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ENGLISH HISTORY 



FOR SCHOOLS 



B.C. 55— A.D. 1880 



\ BY 



HONOBART STUDENT OF CHKIST CHUKOH, AND PROFESSOR OF MODBRW 
HISTORT AT KING'S COLLEGE, LONDON 



Edition Revised fo7' American Students 




NEW YORK 
HENRY HOLT AND COMPANY 



COPTEIGHT BY 

HENRY HOLT AND COMPANY. 

1881. 



Vi^t>,JohnBton 
7 N '02 



PREFACE. 



The object of this little book is to attempt to 
tell the story of England's history for young folks. 
Important events have been given in fuller detail 
than is usual, so as to awaken an interest in them^ 
though no story has been told simply because it is 
interesting — room having been made for this by 
omitting much that would be merely burdensome to 
the memory. Yery few dates have been inserted, 
with the exception of those of the kings* reigns. 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. 
THE BRITONS AND THE ROMANS. 

FAGB 

1. The Britons 3 

2. Britain conquered by the Komans 5 

3. The Koman Government of Britain .... 5 

4. The Komans leave Britain 6 

CHAPTER II. 
THE ENGLISH CONQUEST. 

1. Coming of the English 7 

2. Fate of ia Roman Town near Pevensey . . . . 9 
8. Gradual Conquest of Britain 9 

4. The English People and their Kings . . . . . 11 

5. Treatment of Criminals. 11 

6. The Religion of the English 12 

7. Compurgation and Ordeal . . . . . .13 

CHAPTER in. 
THE CONVERSION OF ENOZANB. 

1. A Missionary sent to England by the Pope . . . 14 

2. Augustine at Canterbury 15 

3. The Conversion of the North . . . . . . 16 

4. The Monks 17 



srill CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER IV. 
THE VNION OF ENGLAND. 

PAGB 

1. What Egbert did . 18 

2. The Coming- of the Danes . . , . . 19 

3. The Fight against the Danes . . . = . 19 

4. The First Year of Alfred the Great . . •. .30 

5. Submission of the Danes to Alfred . , , = . 20 
B. Alfred's Government ....... 23 

7. The Submission of the Danes 23 

CHAPTER V. 
THE ENGLISH AND THE DANISH KINGS. 

1. Edgar and Dunstan 24 

2. Dunstan and the Danes 25 

3. Dunstan brings in Schoolmasters 20 

4. Ethelred the Unready . . . . . . . 26 

5. Elfheah the Martyr 37 

6. The Danish Conquest 27 

7. The Eeign of Cnut ....... 28 

8. The Sons of Cnut 28 

CHAPTER VI. 
THE NORMAN CONQUEST. 

1. The Normans in France ...... 39 

2. Englishmen and Normans .30 

3. Edward the Confessor favours the Normans ... 33 

4. Edward's last Days 32 

5. Harold, King of the English 3,3 

6. The Norman Invasion 33 

7. The Battle of Senlac 34 

8. The Conquest of England 36 

CHAPTER VII. 
THE CONQUEROR AND HIS SONS. 

WILLIAM I., 1066. WILLIAM II., 1087. HENEY I., 1100. 

1. William the Conqueror . 36 

2. The Normans gain Lands in England . . . . 37 

3. William supported both by the Normans and the 

English 37 



CONTENTS. 



IX 



rAGS 

4. William's Cruelty . . 39 

5. The New Forest ....., = . 89 
T). Domesday Book 40 

7. William Eufus 41 

8. William Rufus and Anselm 41 

0. Death of William raifns 43 

10. Henry 1 43 



CHAPTER VIII. 

THE ANARCHY OF STEPHEN'S REIGN AND THE 
RESTORATION OF ORDER BY HENRY II. 

STEPHEN, 1135. HENRY II., 1154. 



1. King Stephen 

2. Tyranny of the Nobles 

3. Henry II. restores Order 

4. Military Reforms of Henry II. 

5. Judicial Reforms . 



6. Union of English and Normans 

7. Henry II. and the Clergy 

8. Henry II. makes Becket Archbishop of 
y. Quarrel between Henry II. and Becket 

10. Murder of Becket .... 

11. Henry "s Foreign Dominions . 




CHAPTER IX. 

THE SONS OF HENRY II AND THE 
GREAT CHARTER. 

RICHARD I., 1189. JOHN, 1199. 



1. The Crusades 

2. Richard I. goes on a Crusade 

3. Richard I. returns Home . 

4. John loses Normandy . 

5. John's Tyranny in England 

G. John and the Monks of Canterbury 

7. Stephen Langton chosen Archbishop at 

8. England under an Interdict . 

9. John excommunicated 

10. Demands of the Barons . 

11. Magna Carta 

12. Final Troubles of the Reign . 



Rome 



55 
57 
57 
58 
59 
59 
60 
60 
61 
62 
62 
C3 



l CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER X. 
HENRY III. AND THE BARONS' WARS. 

HENEY III., 1216. 

1. The English People declare for Henry III. 

2. Accession of Henry III. ...... 

3. Henry's Weakness of Character .... 

4. Henry sends Money to the Pope .... 

5. Growing Influence of Parliament .... 

6. Simon de Montfort 

7. The Battle of Lewes and the Government of Earl 

Simon ......... 

8. The Battle of Evesham and the Death of Earl Simon 



CHAPTER XI 

EDWARD I., 1272 

1. The Kule of Edward I. in England 

2. The Conquest of Wales . 

3. Edward s Interference in Scotland 

4. Edward subdues Scotland 

5. Resistance of William Wallace 

6. The Confirmation of the Charters . 

7. Rise of Robert Bruce 



PAGE 

64 
65 

67 

68 
68 

69 
70 



71 
72 
73 
76 

77 
78 
79 



CHAPTER XII. 

EDWARD II., 1307. EDWARD III,, 1327. 

1. Edward II. and Robert Bruce 80 

2. Bannockburn . 82 

3. The End of the Reign of Edward II 83 

4. Causes of the Hundred Years' War 83 

5. Edward's Claim to the French Throne .... 85 

6. The Battle of Crecy and the Siege of Calais . . . 86 

7. The Battle of Poitiers . 87 

8. Chivalry 88 

9. The Peace of Bretigny 89 

10._ The Labourers . . 89 

11. The Black Death 91 

12. The Last Days of Edward IIL ...... 92 



CONTENTS. 



Xi 



CHAPTER XIII. 

RICHARD II., 1377. 

1. The Insurrection of the Peasants . 

2. John Wyclif 

3. Richard II. and his Uncles. . 

4. End of the Reign of Richard II. 



PAGB 

94 

96 

99 

100 



CHAPTER XIV. 
THE HOUSE OF LANCASTER. 

HENRY IV., 1399. HENRY Y., 1414. HENRY VI., 1422. 



1. Henry's Title to the Crown . 

2. Law made for the Burning of Heretics 

3. Rebellion against Henry IV. 

4. Henr}" of Monmouth, Prince of Wales 

5. Henry V. makes War upon France 

6. Siege of Harfleur and Battle of Agincourt 

7. The Siege of Rjuen .... 

8. The last" Years of Henry V. . . . 

9. The English Rule in France 

10. Joan Dare 

n. Capture and Death of Joan . 

12. The Loss of France . . . 

18. Weakness of Henry VI. 

14. The Wars of the Roses .... 



101 
103 
104 
105 
lW^ 
107 
110 
110 
111 
112 
113 
114 
114 
116 



CHAPTER XV. 

THE HOUSE OF YORK. 

EDWARD IV., 1461. EDWARD V., 1483. RICHARD III., 1483. 



1. Edward IV. and the Barons ..... 

2. The Barons and the Middle Classes . 

3. Difficulties in the way of getting Justice 

4. Crowing Power of the King .... 

5. Edward's Deposition and Restoration . 

6. The Benevolences and the PrintiEg Press 

7. The End of the Reigu of Edward IV. . 

8. Edward V. and the Duke of Gloucester . 

9. The Duke of Gloucester, Protector 

10. The Duke of Gloucester becomes King Richard III. 

11. Murder of the Princes ...... 

12. Richard's Defeat and Death .... 



117 
119 
120 
121 
122 
123 
124 
126 
126 
127 
128 
129 



xii CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER XVI. 
THE FIRST TUDOR KINO. 

HENRY VII., 1485. 

PAGB 

1. Beginning of the Eeign of Henry VII. . . . . 13G 

2. Lambert Simnel and Perkin Warbeck . , . . 132 

3. Henry makes the Nobles obedient . . . . 133 

4. Henry VH. gathers Money . . . . . . 134 

5. The Court of Star Chamber , . . . . . 134 

6. Great Power of the King. 136 

CHAPTER XVII. 
THE FIRST YEARS OF HENRY VIII. 

(1509-1529.) 

1. Popularity of Henry 136 

2. Wars on the Continent . . . . . . . 138 

3. Condition of the People 138 

4. The Inclosures . . 139 

5. The Utopia and the Discovery of America . . . 140 

6. Beginning of the Keformation 141 

7. Henry quarrels with the Pope 142 

8. Fallof Wolsey 143 

CHAPTER XVni. 
LAST PART OF THE REIGN OF HENRY Till. 

(1529-1547.) 

1. The King's Divorce 144 

2. Henry burns the Protestants, and hangs or beheads the 

Catholics 144 

3. Execution of Sir Thomas More . . . . .145 

4. The Translation of the Bible 147 

5. The Suppression of the smaller Monasteries . .148 

6. Execution of Anne Boleyn and Death of Jane 

Seymour . 148 

7. The Pilgrimage of Grrace . . . . . .150 

8. Destruction of Images . . . . . . . 150 

9. Henry's Tyranny .152 

10. The Six Articles 153 

11. The Last Years of Henry VIII. . . . . .154 



CONTENTS. 



Xlll 



CHAPTEB XIX. 
EDWARD VI. AND MARY. 

EDWAED VI., 1547. MAEY, 1553. 

1. The "War in Scotland and the new Prayer Book 

2. Seizure of Church Property . . 

3. Somerset's Fall ...... 

4. Northumbeiland's G-overnment 

5. Death of Edward VI. and Accession of Mary . 

6. The first Years of Queen Mary 

7. The Protestant Martyrs 

8 The last Days of Mary 



PAGI 

156 
158 
158 
159 
160 
161 
163 
164 



9. 
10. 



CHAPTER XX. 

THE FIRST YEARS OF ELIZABETH. 

(1558-1580.) 

Elizabeth and the Nation . 
Elizabeth and the Church 
The Reformation in Scotland . 
Mary Queen of Scots in Scotland 
Mary Queen of Scots in England 
The Eising in the North 
Prosperity of the Country 
Ill-feeling against Spain 
Drake's Voj^age .... 
English Voyages of Discovery 



163 
166 
167 
168 
168 
169 
169 
171 
172 
174 



CHAPTER XXI. 
ELIZABETH'S TRIUMPHS. 

(1580-1588.) 

1. The Eoman Catholic Missionaries 

2. Throgmor ton's Plot and the Association 
3. 
4. 
5. 



9. 
10. 



176 
177 



Help sent to the Dutch 178 

Drake in the West Indies . . . . . .179 

The Babington Conspiracy and the Execution of the 

Queen of Scots 180 

Drake singes the King of Spain's Beard . , . . 180 
The Sailing of the Armada . . . . . ,181 
The Armada in the Channel . . . . .182 

The Armada in the North Sea 184 

The Destruction of the Armada . , o . . 185 



XIV CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER XXII. 
THE LAST YEARS OF ELIZABETH. 

(1588-1603.) 

1. Continuance of War with Spain J 87 

2. Death of Sir Richard Grenville . . , , 187 

3. The Expedition to Cadiz . . . ... .189 

4. Essex in Ireland . , . . . , . . 189 
.5, Conquest of Ireland . . . . . . .190 

6. The Monopolies . . . . . . . . 191 

7. Elizabeth's Death ........ 192 



CHAPTER XXIIl. 

JAMES I. AND THE HOUSE OF COMMONS. 

(1603-1614.) 



1. Accession of James I. . 

2. The Hampton Court Conference 

8. James I. and the House of Commons . 

4. The Grunpowder Plot . . • . 

5. Discovery of the Plot .... 

6. The English Government of Ireland . 

7. The Colonisation of Ulster . 

8. The Great Contract and the Impositions 

9. The A.ddled Parliament .... 



CHAPTER XXIV. 
JAMFS I. AND SPAIN. 

(1614-1625.) 



PAGE 

195 

196 
198 
198 
200 
201 
201 
202 
203 



1. James's Favourites 

2. The Spanish Marriage Treaty . 

3. Raleigh's Voyage 

4. Raleigh's Return and Execution 

5. James I. and the Thirty Years' War 

6. The Monopolies and Lord Chancellor Bacon 

7. The Loss of the Palatinate . . . . 

8. Prince Charles's Visit to Madrid 



203 

204 
205 
206 
207 
208 
209 
210 



9. End of James's Reign .... . « <, 211 



CONTENTS. XV 



CHAPTEE XXV. 

CHARLES. I. AND HIS FIRST THREE 
PARLIAMENTS, 

(1625-1629.) 

PAGE 

1. The First Parliament of Charles 1 213 

2. The Expedition to Cadiz . 214 

3. The Second Parliament of Charles I. and the Forced 

Loan . . . . . . . . . 215 

4. The War with France and the Expedition to Rhe . . 216 

5. The Third Parliament of Charles I. and the Petition of 

Right 2' 6 

6. Murder of Buckingham 216 

7. Breach between Charles and the Parliament . 217 



CHAPTER XXVI. 

THE UNPARLIAMENTARY GOVERNMENT 
OF CHARLES I. 

(1629-1640.) 

1. The Imprisonment of Members of Parliament . . 219 

2. Laud's Rule in the Church . . , . • . 219 

3. The Court of Star Chamber 220 

4. Ship Money 221 

5. Hampden's Case ........ 222 

6. The Scottish Prayer- Book and the Riot at Edinburgh . 222 

7. Charles's March to the Borders 223 

8. Wentworth sent for -. . 224 

9. The Short Parliament 224 

10. The Scottish Invasion 225 



CHAPTER XXVIL 

THE LONG PARLIAMENT AND THE 
CIVIL WAR. 

(1640-1649.) 

1. Strafford's Trial . . ..... 226 

2. Changes in the Law 227 

3. Ecclesiastical Parties ....... 228 

4. The Rebellion in Ireland 228 

5. The Grand Remonstrance and the Attempt on the Five 

Members 229 



xvi CONTENTS. 

FAGB 

6. Breach between the King and the Parliament . . . 230 

7. The Beginning of the first Civil War .... 232 

8. Presbyterians and Independents 233 

9. The Self-denying Ordinance and the New Model . . 234 

10. End of the First Civil War and the Negotiations with 

the King 235 

11. The Second Civil War and the Execution of Charles I.. 236 



CHAPTER XXVIII. 

THE COMMONWEALTH AND THE 
PROTECTORATE. 

(1649-1660.) 

1. The Commonwealth 

2. Cromwell in Ireland .... 

3. The War with Scotland . 

4. Expulsion of the Long Parliament . 

5. The Barebones Parliament 

6. Cromwell's First Parliament 

7. Cromwell's Governmeut . ; 

8. Cromwell's Second Parliament . 

9. Richard Cromwell's Protectorate and the Restored 

Commonwealth ........ 243 

10. The Restoration 243 

CHAPTER XXIX. 

THE FIRST TWELVE YEARS OF 
CHARLES IT. 

(1660-1672.) 

1. Character of Charles II, ...... 244 

2. The Army disbanded and the Judges of Charles I. 

executed . . ' 246 

8. Treatment of the Puritans -247 

4. John Bunyan . . . . • 249 

5. John Milton 249 

6. Lord Chancellor Clarendon . . .... 250 

7. The First Dutch War 251 

8. The Plague and the Fire of London 251 

9. The Dutch in the Medway 253 

10. The Cabal Ministry 254 

11 The Triple Alliance and the Treaty of Dover . . 255 
12. The Declaration ol: Indulgence and the Second Dutch 

War 256 



CONTENTS. xvii 



CHAPTER XXX. 

THE LAST TWELVE YEARS OF 
CHARLES IT. 

(1673-1685.) 

PAGB 

1. The Test Act 257, 

2. Danby's Ministry 258 

3. The Popish Plot 259' 

4. The Exclusion Bill 261 

5. Whigs and Tories 262 

6. Violence of the Tories, and the Rye House Plot , . 263 

7. Forfeiture of the London Charter 263 

8. The Rye House Plot 265 

9. The Execution of Lord Russell 265 

10. The Last Days of Charles II 266 



CHAPTER XXXL 
THE REIGN OF JAMES II. 

(1685-1688.) 

1. James 11. and Monmouth's Rebellion .... 267 

2. The Bloody Assizes 269 

3. The Test Act violated 271 

4. The Dispensing Power ....... 271 

5. The Declaration of Indulgence ..... 272 

6. The Expulsion of the Fellows of Magdalen . . . 273 

7. The Trial of the Seven Bishops 274 

8. The Invitation to the Prince of Orange . . . . 276 

CHAPTER XXXII. 

WILLIAM AND MARY. 

(1689-1694.) 

1 . The Revolution and the Toleration Act . . . 271 

2. The War in Scotland 279 

3. The Massacre of G-lencoe . . . . . . 280 

4. The Siege of Londonderry 282 

5. The End of the War in Ireland 284 

6. The Battle of Beachy Head 284 

7. The Battle of La Hogue 286 

8. The War in the Netherlands and the Death of Mary = 287 

9. The Liberty of the Press 288 

a 



XViii CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER XXXIII. 

WILLIAM III. 

(1694-1702.) 

PAGB 

i. The Siege of Namur 289 

2. The Assassination Plot . . . . • • 289 

3. The Restoration of the Currency . . ... 291 

4. The Peace of Ryswick ....-•• 292 
6. The Dismissal of the Dutch Guards . . . . . 292 

6. The Spanish Succession and the Partition Treaty . . 293 

7. Rise of a War Feeling in England 294 

CHAPTER XXXIV. 

QUEEN ANNE. 

(1702 1714.) 

1. The Occasional Conformity Bill . . . •• .295 

2 Blenheim and Ramilies ....... 296 

B. The War in Spain 297 

4. The Union with Scotland . . . . . . 29^ 

.5. The Whig Ministry 29ft 

(i. The Sacheverell Trial 300 

7. The Tory Ministry --^Ol 

8. The Peace of Utrecht 302 

9. The Last days of Queen Anne 302 

CHAPTER XXXV. 

THE REIGNS OF THE FIRST TWO GEORGES 
TO THE DEATH OF HENRY PELHAM. 

(G-EOEGE I.. 1714— GEORGE II., 1727— DEATH OP HENRY 
PELHAM, 1754.) 

1. The First Years of George 1 303 

2. The South Sea Bubble . . . . . . .305 

3.- Sir Robert Walpole, Prime Minister . . . . . 306 

^ 4.- Parliamentary Corruption . ... . . ' 306 

5. Walpole and the Excise Bill . .• . . . • 307 

6. Walpole and the War with Spain 308 

7. Fall of Walpole . . . . . • » . 309 

8. The Ministry of the Pelhams . » , . . 309 



CONTENTS. XIX 

PAGE 

9. The Young Pretender in Scotland . . . . . 310 

10. The Young Pretender in England 312 

11. Falkirk and Culloden 313 

12. The Escape of Charles Edward 314 

CHAPTER XXXVI. 
TBE LAST SIX YEARS OF GEORGE II. 

(1754-1760.) 

1. Englishmen Spread over the World 315 

2. English and French in America . . . , .315 

3. Beginning of the Seven Years' War . . . . . 317 

4. Newcastle driven from Office ..... 317 

5. Pitt in Office 318 

6. Wolfe's Expedition to Canada ..... 319 

7. The Capture of Quebec and the Death of Wolfe . . 320 

8. Victory at Quiberon Bay .321 

9. Struggle between the English and French . . . 322 

10. CliveatArcot 323 

11. The Black Hole of Calcutta 324 

12. The Battle of Plassey 325 

CHAPTER XXXVH. 

FROM THE ACCESSION OF GEORGE III. TO 
THE END OF THE AMERICAN WAR. 

(1760-1783.) 

1. Peace with France 326 

2. The Stamp Act . .327 

3. The Tea Duties « 328 

i. Wilkes and the Middlesex Election 

5. Throwing of Tea into Boston Harbour 

6. The Beginning of the American War 

7. The Alliance between America and France 

8. The End of the War . . . 



328 
329 
331 
334 
335 



CHAPTER XXXVin. 

FROM THE END OF THE AMERICAN WAR 
TO THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 

(1783-1789.) 

1. Shelbume turned out of Office 336 

2. The Contest between Pitt and the Coalition Ministry . 337 



XX 



CONTENTS. 



PAGE 

3. Pitt and Public Opinion . . . , . . 338 

4. The Proposed Eeform Bill and the Commercial Treaty 

with France 339 

5. The Slave Trade 340 

6. The King's Illness and Eecovery 341 

7. Agricultural Improvements 342 

8. The Bridgewater Canal 343 

9. Improvements in Spinning Machines . . . . 344 
10. The Steam- Engine 345 



CHAPTER XXXIX. 

FROM THE BEGINNING OF THE FRENCH 
REVOLUTION TO THE PEACE OF AMIENS. 

(1789-1802.) 

1. Beginning of the French Eevolution 

2. War between England and France 

3. English Feeling against the Revolutionists 

4. Progress of the War 

5. The Battle of St. Vincent . 

6. The Mutiny at Spit head 

7. The Mutiny at the Nore . 

8. Bonaparte in Egypt 

9. The Battle of the Nile 

10. Irish Difficulties 

11. The Irish Rebellion oO 1798 

12. The Union with Ireland 

13. Addington's Ministry and the Peace of Amiens 

14. The Expedition to Egypt and the Peace of Amiens 



347 
348 
350 
351 
351 
353 
354 
355 
356 
356 
358 
360 
360 
363 



CHAPTER XL. 

FROM THE PEACE OF AMIENS TO THE 
BEGINNING OF THE PENINSULAR WAR. 

(1802-1808.) 

1. End of the Peace of Amiens 

2. Projected Invasion of England 

3. Pitt's Second Ministry .... 

4. Napjieon's Plan for invading England . 

5. The Battle of Trafalgar .... 

6. Pitt's Last Days 

7. The Ministry of all the Talents 
S. State of the Continent after the Peace of Tilsit 
9. The Seizure of the Danish Fleet 



364 
364 
365 
366 
367 
368 
368 
369 
370 



CONTENTS. xxi 



CHAPTER XLI. 



FBOM THE BEGINNING OF THE PENINSULAR 
WAR TO THE PEACE OF PARIS. 



(1808-1814.) 



PAGE 

371 
373 
374 
375 
376 
377 
378 
371) 
380 
381 
382 



1. Spain and Portugal ..... 

2. Napoleon in Spain ...... 

3. The Battle of Corunna 

4. Oporto and Talavera . ... 

5. Walcheren 

6. Wellington's Difficulties in Spain 

7. Torres Vedras ...... 

8. The Regency 

9. The Guerillas 

10. The Capture of Cuidad Rodrigo and Badajoz . 

11. The Battle of Salamanca .... 
] 2. Napoleon's Russian Campaign ...... 382 

13. The Uprising of Prussia and the Battle of Vittoria . 383 

14. Napoleon's Last Struggle ....... 384 

15. Wellington's Military Career 385 



CHAPTER XLH. 

FROM THE PEACE OF PARIS TO THE 
DEATH OF GEORGE III. 

(1814-1820.) 

1. The American War and the Return of Napoleon . . 386 

2. The Battle of Waterloo 386 

3. General Distress 387 

4. Romilly as a Criminal-Law Reformer . . . . 388 

5. Agitation in the Country ...... 389 

6. The Manchester Massacre 390 

7. Death of George HI 391 

CHAPTER XLHI. 
REIGN OF GEORGE IV. 

(1820-1830.) 

1. The Cato- Street Conspiracy ._ 392 

2. George Canning ; Foreign Policy ..... 392 

3. Peel ; Reform of the Criminal Law . . ■. . 393 

4. Huskisson's Commercial Reforms 394 



xxii CONTENTS. 

.PAGB 

5. The Catholic Association 394 

6. The Eepresentative System 395 

7. Parliamentary Keform 39fi 

8. The Canning- and Goderich Ministries . . . . 397 

9. The Wellington Ministry and the Kepeal of the Test 

and Corporation Acts ...... 398 

10. The Clare Election 399 

11. Catholic Emancipation ........ 399 

12. The New Police 400 

18. Eoads and Coaches . . . . " ' . . . 4-0(? 

14. Railways and Locomotives 401 



CHAPTER XLIV. 
REIGN OF WILLIAM IV. 

(1830-1837.) 

1. The End of the Wellington Ministry . ." . .402 

2. The Reform Bill 404 

3. The Reform Bill rejected by the Lords .... 405 

4. Public Agitation 405 

5. The Reform Bill becomes Law 406 

6. Abolition of Slavery, and the new Poor-law . . . 406 

7. Dismissal of the Grovernment, and Peel's first Ministry 407 

8. Lord Melbourne's Ministry . . . ... 408 



CHAPTER XLV. 

FBOM THE ACCESSION OF VICT OB I A TO 
THE FALL OF THE MELBOURNE MINISTBY. 

(1837-1841.) 

1. State of the Country 408 

2. The People's Charter 410 

3. Post- Office Reform 411 

4. Education 412 

5. The Queen's Marriage . 413 

6. Lord Palmerston and the Eastern Question . . . 414 

7. Mehemet Ali driven out of Syria 415 

8. The Fall of the Melbourne Ministry . . . . 416 



CONTENTS. Xiiii 

CHAPTER XLVI. 
THE MINISTRY OF SIR ROBERT PEEL. 

(1841-1846.) 

PAGE 

!• Commercial Free Trade . . . . . .416 

2. The Invasion of Afghanistan . . . . . . 417 

3. The Eising of the Afghans 417' 

4. The Eetreat from Cabul . . o . . . . 418 

5. Pollock's March to Cabul 419 

6. The Anti- Corn- Law League 419 

7. The Irish Famine 421 

8. The Repeal of the Corn Laws and the End of Peel's 

Ministry . . 422 

CHAPTER XLVII. 

FRO 31 THE BEGINNING OF LORD JOHN 
RUSSELL'S MINISTRY TO THE END OF THE 
CRIMEAN WAR. 

(1846-1856.) 

1. The European Revolutions 422 

2. The Chartists in London 423 

3. The Death of Peel and the Great Exhibition ; Russell's 

Government ........ 424 

4. The Derby Ministry 426 

5. The Coahtion Ministry and the Eastern Difficulty . 426 

6. War between Russia and Turkey 427 

7. The Invasion of the Crimea and the Battle of the Alma 429 

8. The beginning of the Siege of Sebastopol . . . . 429 

9. The Balaclava Charge and the Battle of Inkermann . 430 

10. Winter in the Crimea 431 

11. The Hospital at Scutari 432 

12. The Palmerston Ministry 433 

13. The Fall of Sebastopol and the End of the War . . 433 

CHAPTER XLVni. 

THE INDIAN MUTINY. 

(1857, 1858.) 

1. Troubles in India . . . 435 

2. The Outbreak of the Mutiny ,436 



xxiv CONTENTa 



PAGB 

3. Cawnpore 437 

4. Clemency Canning 439 

5. The Kecovery of Delhi and the Relief of Lucknow . 440 

6. Sir Colin Campbell in India 441 



CHAPTER XLIX. 

FROM THE END OF THE INDIAN MUTINY TO 
THE PASSING OF THE SECOND REFORM 
BILL. 

(1858-1867.) 

1. The Reform Bills which did Xot Pass .... 442 

2. The French War in Italy 443 

3. The Kingdom of Italy 444 

4. The Volunteers 445 

5. The Commercial Treaty with France .... 44(5 

6. The Civil "War in America 446 

7. The Blockade Runners and the Privateers . . .447 

8. The Cotton Famine 448 

9. The Last Days of Lord Palmerston .... 449 

10. The Ministry of Earl Russell 449 

11. The Conservative Ministry and the Second Reform Bill 450 



CHAPTER L. 

FROM THE PASSING OF THE SECOND RE- 
FORM BILL TO THE END OF LORD BEA- 
CONSFIELD'S MINISTRY. 

(1867-1880.) 

1. Irish Troubles 451 

2. The Irish Church and the Gladstone Ministry . . . 452 

3. The Irish Church Act and the Iiish Ijand Act . . 453 

4. The Education Act 453 

5. The Ballot Act 453 

6. The Franco German War 454 

7. The End of the First Gladstone Ministry . . .455 

8. Mr. Disraeli's Ministry and the Turkish Disturbances . 455 

9. The End of the Conservative Ministry . . . .456 
10. Conclusion 456 



DATES OF THE CHIEF EVENTS BEFORE 
THE CONQUEST. 



Ijanding of the English 

Landing of Saint Augustine . 

Egbert, King of Wessex . 

The Treaty of Wedmore 

Cnut, King of all England 

Edward the Confessor King . . • . 

Harold's Eeign, and the Battle of Senlac 



A.D. 

449 

597 

802 

878 

1016 

1042 

1066 



KINGS AFTER THE CONQUEST. 





A.D. 




A.D. 


William I. . 


1066 


Henry VIII. . . . 


1509 


William 11. . . . 


1087 


Edward VI. . 


1547 


Henry I. . . . 


1100 


Mary . . . . 


1553 


Stephen . . . . 


1135 


Elizabeth 


1558 


Henry II. . . . 


1154 


James I 


1603 


Richard I. . . . 


1189 


Charles I. . . . 


1625 


John . . . . 


1199 


ComixxOn wealth and Pro- 




Henry III. 


1216 


tectorate . 


1649 


Edward I. . . . 


1272 


Charles H. ... 


1660 


Edward II. . . , 


1307 


James II. . . , 


1685 


Edward III. . 


1327 


William III. and Mary II. 


1689 


Eichard II. . 


1377 


Anne .... 


1702 


Henry IV. . 


1399 


George I. . . . . 


1714 


Henry V. . 


1413 


George II. . 


1727 


Henry VI. . 


1422 


George III. . . . 


1760 


Edward IV. 


1461 


George IV. . 


1820 


Edward V. . 


1483 


William IV. . . . 


1830 


Richard HI. . 


. 1483 


Victoria . 


1837 


Henry VH. . 


. 1485 







OUTLINE OF ENGLISH HISTOEY= 

FIRST PERIOD. 

CHAPTEE I. 
THE BRITONS AND THE ROMANS. 




CROMLKOH. 



1. The Britons,— Nearly two thousand years ago the 
island now consisting of England and Scotland was 
called Britain. The people who lived in it were called 
Britons. They conld not read or write, so that, as they 
did not write an}^ books to tell ns about themselves, ho- 



st. III. 



4 OUTLINE OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

thing is known about their history till some people 
who could write visited the country. There have, 
however, been found in the tombs of some of them, 
pieces of pottery and other things which they used, 
and there are still to be found a few cromlechs, as 
they are called, made of huge pieces of rock set 
upright with a flat piece to cover them, under which 
great men were buried, and w^hich were once covered 
with earth which has been taken away. Also in one 
or two places there were circles of enormous stones 




STOUEHENGE. 



set up, with other stones lying across on the top, 
like the frame of a door. One of the most complete 
of those which remain is at Stonehenge on Salisbury 
Plain. It is supposed that these were used as 
temples. A great part of the country was unculti- 
vated and covered with wood. The people had cattle, 
and hunted the animals in the woods, but they also 
planted barley for food, and made baskets and pot- 
tery. Ships came all the way from the east end of 
the Mediterranean to buy tin in Cornwall. 



FIEST PEEIOD. 5 

2. Britain conquered by the Romans. — The first 
people who went there who could write down 
accounts of what they saw were the Eomans. 
Their chief city was Eome in Italy. They had con- 
quered a great part of Europe, and part of Asia and 
of Africa. Fifty-five years before Christ, Julius 
Caesar, a great Eoman general, came with an army 
to Britain. He went back and returned the next 
year. Afterwards he became emperor, or com- 
mander of all the Roman armies, and ruler of the 
Romans and of all the people whom they had con- 
quered. About a hundred years later, rather more 
than eighteen hundred years ago, another Roman 
emperor sent an army to Britain, and after some 
little time all South Britain, as far as the Firths of 
Clyde and Forth, was conquered. 

3. The Homan Government of Britain. — Before 
the Romans came, the Britons lived in small tribes, 
each with a king of its own, and each one» often 
fighting with its neighbours, like the Zulus in Africa 
now. The Romans did not kill the people they 
conquered, or drive them out. They treated them 
very much in the same way as the English, in our 
own time, have treated the people of India. They 
made good roads and built towns, and forced the 
people to live at peace. Wherever we find such a 
name as street, or anything like it, as Chester-le- 
'Street, Stratton or Stratford, we know there was 
once a Roman road. Wherever we find chester or 
caster, as in Winchester or Doncaster, we know that 
there was once a Roman garrison. The Romans 
were great builders, and the remains of some of 

b 2 



C OUTLINE OF ENGLISH HISTOKY. 

their fortifications are still to be seen. The streets 
of the towns swarmed with citizens. The richer 
people built comfortable country houses for them- 
selves to live in. Corn was grown in abundance, 
and besides the tin mines of Cornwall there were 
mines of lead and iron. Christian missionaries 
arrived, and the people became Christian. In 
some parts the Latin language was spoken, but the 
conquered people for the most part continued to 
address one another in their own tongue. On the 
whole the Eomans tried to rule justly. They en- 
couraged trade, and made good laws in their do- 
minions on the Continent, as well as in Britain, so 
that every man might have what belonged to him. 
All this was possible, just as it is possible in India, 
because there was peace in all the lands belonging 
to the Romans. There were soldiers at the frontier 
of the empire, to prevent the fierce Grermans from 
bursting in to rob and kill. But inside the Eoman 
frontier no tribe was allowed to fight with another. 

4. The Romans leave Britain. — The Roman rule 
in Britain lasted for about three hundred and fifty 
years. Then the Roman- a,rmy went away. The 
Romans had been attacked by their enemies, and 
they wanted their soldiers to come home to defend 
**Italy. The Britons were left to take care of them- 
selves. Unfortunately for them, the Romans had 
not taught them how to fight. They and their 
fathers had lived so long in peace that they did 
not know how to keep off an enemy. They were 
attacked by wild and fierce tribes — the Scots and 
Picts. At that time the Scots lived in Ireland, 



FIRST PERIOD. 7 

though many of them afterwards crossed the sea 
to the part of Northern Britain where Argyleshire is 
now, and later on gave the name of Scotland, or the 
land of the Scots, to the northern part of the island. 
The Picts lived to the north of the Firths of Clyde 
and Forth before the Scots came. These Scots and 
Picts came amongst the Britons, plundering and kill- 
ing. The Britons had always been defended by the 
Koman army, and feeling quite helpless they wrote 
to the Eoman general to bring his soldiers back. 
The genera] did as he was asked, drove off the Scots 
and Picts, and then went away for ever. The Scots 
and Picts returned. A people which cannot defend 
itself is likely to meet with no mercy. 



CHAPTER IL 
THE ENGLISH CONaUEST, 

1. Coming of the English. — The Britons spoke 
a language which was the same as that which some 
of the Welsh, who are descended from them, still 
' speak. The S^ots and Picts spoke a language not 
very different. Beyond the North Sea was a different 
people living on both sides of the mouth of the 
river Elbe. They were called Angles, and Saxons, 
and Jutes, speaking a language which was German, 
though it was not quite the same as the German 
spoken in Germany now. It is called Low German, 



OUTLINE OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 



and was more like the Dutch language. The 
Angles, and Saxons, and Jutes were as fierce as the 
Scots and Picts. They had small vessels and were 
hardy sailors. They came across the sea, plundering. 



/ THE \ 

FIRST HOME 

OF THE 

S ^ENGIiISH/ 




and burning, and slaying, like the Scots and PictSc 
In the year 449, some Jutes, under two chiefs, named 
Hengist and Horsa, landed in the Isle of Thanet. 
Other chiefs with bands of armed followers landed in 
other parts of the island. They did not bring law 



FIRST PERIOD. 9 

and order for the Britons as the Komans had done. 
They slew or drove away the Britons, and divided 
their land amongst themselves. They did not care 
to live in towns, as they had always been accustomed 
to live in the country. So they either burnt the 
towns and left them desolate, or else suffered them 
to decay till at a later time they too learned to live 
in towns and to trade. 

2. Fate of a Roman Town near Pevensey. — A curi- 
ous example of the way in which the towns were 
treated is to be found on the coast of Sussex, 
between Hastings and Eastbourne. There is to be 
seen the spot where once was the flourishing Koman 
city of Anderida. The Roman walls are still there, 
firmly built with that mortar which the Romans 
knew how to make, and which is harder than even 
the stones which it binds together. Inside is a 
green flat space with no trace of any building except 
in one corner, where are the ruins of a castle built 
there long after the days of the Romans. The 
Saxon conqueror could not destroy the city walL 
He destroyed the houses inside it. He liked better 
to live outside. Two little villages in front of the old 
gates of the City tell us by their names the language 
to which they belong and what sort of men they 
were who came there. To the West is West Ham — 
that is to say, the western home of some settler whose 
name we do not know. To the East is Pevensey, 
the meaning of which name is the Island of Peofn ; 
and Peofn, no doubt, was the one amongst the con- 
querors who fixed his abode there. 

3 Gradual conquest of Brit-ain. — These Saxons and 



10 OUTLINE OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

Jutes, and Angles did not conquer the country all 
at once. Like the Britons before the Romans came> 
they did not form one people, but lived separately, 
each tribe by itself. Many English counties bear the 
names of these tribes. The East Saxons lived in 
Essex, the Middle Saxons in Middlesex, the South 
Saxons in Sussex. At first the conquest was not very 
difficult. The south-eastern part of England had 
been more civilised by the Romans than the rest of 
the country. It was richer because it was nearer to 
the Continent, and the people who lived in it traded 
with those who lived beyond the sea. Its inhabi- 
tants were also less warlike than those who lived in 
the Western hills, so that the conquest was easiest 
here. In the south-east there had been formed 
four small kingdoms^ Kent, answering to the modern 
county, Sussex, including the modern Sussex and 
Surrey, Essex, including the modern Essex and 
Middlesex, and East Anglia, including Norfolk, Suf- 
folk, and Cambridgeshire. In the north and west the 
struggle was harder, and the conquerors found it 
necessary to join their small" tribes together in order 
that they might bring a stronger force against the 
enemy. The three larger kingdoms were those of 
Northumberland, or the land North of the Humber 
as far as the Clyde, of Mercia, occupying the centre 
of the country, and of Wessex, the land of the West 
Saxons, occup3dng the country westward from the 
border of Sussex. These three went on fighting 
with the Britons. In 128 years of conflict they had 
pushed their frontier as far as the chain of the hills 
known as the Pennine range, and thence south- 



FIRST PERIOD. H 

eastward to a spot near Bedford, after, which it 
twisted about irregularly till it reached the English 
Channel about half way between the mouth of the 
Exe and Portland. After some further years of 
struggle the line went from the Pennine Hills south- 
ward through the Mendip Hills to the English 
Channel. Cumberland, Lancashire, Devon, and Corn- 
wall were subdued at a later time. Wales remained 
independent for many hundred years. In these 
later and Western conquests many more Britons 
were saved alive than in the East. 

4. The English People and their Kings. — The 
invaders came to be usually known as Angles or 
English, though they were sometimes called Anglo- 
Saxon, that is to say. Angles and Saxons. The 
country was called England, or the land of the 
Angles. Each tribe had over it a king, but the 
king did not do as he pleased. The freemen who 
made up the tribe met in council and decided 
whether they would go to war or not. When the 
king died, they chose a new one out of the family of 
the last king. Nobody then thought it right that 
the eldest son of the last king should always reign 
after his father. A king had to command in battle 
as well as to sit at the head of the meetings of the 
freemen. If the eldest son of the king were a child, 
or a coward, or incapable of ruling from ill health, or 
from any other cause, the tribe passed him over alto- 
gether and chose his uncle or his cousin to be king. 

5. Treatment of Criminals. — At these meetings of 
the people those who had been wronged were 
listened to. There were no regular judges as there 



12 OUTLINE OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

are now. If a man committed a murder there was no 
idea that it concerned anybody to punish him except 
the relations'of the murdered man. Some time be- 
fore the English came to the island, the custom had 
been that the nearest relation of the murdered man 
considered it to be his duty to kill the murderer, like 
the avenger of blood, who was the nearest relation, 
amongst the ancient Hebrews. Then the relations 
of the murderer who had been killed considered it 
to be their duty to kill the man who had killed the 
murderer. So the blood feud, as it was called, went 
on from generation to generation, some one member 
of one family being always on the look-out to kill a 
member of the other. At last, however, people grew 
tired of this constant slaughter, and the custom grew 
up that, when a man was murdered, the murderer 
came to the relations of the murdered man and gave 
them some money to let him off. They brought the 
money before the meeting of the people, and then 
peace was made between the murderer and the 
relations of the man whom he had killed. If a 
thief was detected, he had to pay money in the same 
way. 

3, The Religion of the English. — Such an arrange- 
ment as this was possible because the English did 
not think that it was at all wrong to kill a man. 
They were heathens, and their religion taught them 
that men were the better, not for being tender and 
merciful, but for being strong and bold. Their 
gods, they thought, showed favour to them if they 
were fierce and masterful, and would only give them 
happiness after their death if they died fighting. 



FIRST PERIOD. 13 

They thought that the dead warriors spent their 
time all day in another world in fighting for amuse- 
ment. 

7. Compurgation and Ordeal. — In other respects 
the mode of dealing with criminals in those days 
differed from ours. There were no lawyers and 
judges as there are now, trained to find out when a 
man has committed a crime which no one has seen 
him do. When therefore any one was accused of a 
murder or a theft, he was asked whether he could 
bring a number of honest men who lived near him 
to swear that he was innocent. If he could he was 
considered to be innocent. This was called Com- 
purgation, because the men joined in purging him, 
or declaring him to be clean from the fault. Jf he 
could not get the men to swear for him he had yet 
another chance. He might try what was called the 
ordeal, or judgment of G^od. He had to walk bhnd- 
fold over red-hot ploughshares or dip his hand into 
boiling water. If he missed the ploughshares, or if 
his hand did not appear to be hurt after three days, 
he was declared to be innocent. Probably scarcely 
anybody ever got off in this way, but as only those 
tried it who had failed to find men who would swear 
for them, they would all be considered to have bad 
characters because their neighbours distrusted them. 
For this reason nobody would feel much surprise if 
almost every accused person who tried the ordeal 
failed. 



J4 OUTLINE OF ENGLISH HIISTORY. 



CHAPTEE III. 
THE CONVERSION OF ENGLAND. 

1. A Missionary sent to England by the Pope.- 

Soon after the Eoman soldiers left Britain, the Eoman 
Empire came to an end in the West of Europe. Its 
place was taken by a number of German nations 
who had conquered it. These conquerors, how- 
ever, were not heathens like the English who 
conquered Britain, and the Bishop of Eome had 
a great influence over them. He was generally 
looked up to, and was called the Pope ; that is to 
say, the Papa, or Father of Christians. About 150 
years after the English began to come into Britain 
there was a Pope named Grregory. The English 
conquerors were heathens. Long before Gregory 
was Pope he had seen some fair-haired boys from 
Northumberland in the slave-market at Eome. He 
had asked what nation they were of. He was told 
that they w^ere Angles. ' Not Angles,' he said, ' but 
Angels. Who is their king ? ' he further asked. 
' His name,' said the merchant, who wanted to sell 
the boys, ' is Ella.' ' Allelujah,' answered Gregory, 
' shall be sung in the land of Ella.' Many years 
afterwards, when he had become Pope, he remem- 
bered his meeting with the boys. He sent Augus- 
tine as a missionary to convert the English. 



FIRST PERIOD. 



15 



2. Augustine at Canterbury. — In 597 Augustine 
landed, on his mission of love, in the Isle of Thanet, 
where Hengist and Horsa had landed 148 years 




before to ravage and to slay. Followed by a band 
of missionaries, he made his way to the home of the 
King of Kent, where now is the city of Canterbury, 



16 OUTLINE OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

with its grand cathedral rising above the roofs of 
the houses. Ethelbert, the king, who had married 
a Christian wife from beyond the sea, allowed him 
to preach to the people. After a time he and the 
men of Kent became Christians. From Canterbury 
the gospel spread over the southern part of England. 
Augustine became the first archbishop, and therefore 
the Archbishop of Canterbury, where first Christianity 
was preached to the heathen English, has always 
been the archbishop of all Southern England. 

3. The Conversion of the North. — The South of 
England had learned Christianity from a man sefff^ 
from Eome. The North learned it from a man sent 
from lona, a little island off the west coast of Scot- 
land, where was settled a colony of Irish Christians 
who were zealously eager to preach the gospel. 
From lona came Aidan, who settled himself in Holy 
Island, off the coast of Northumberland, and sent 
forth swarms of preachers. Whether the preachers 
came from Rome or from lona they taught much 
the same lesson. They taught men to be merciful 
and gentle, to reverence Christ and his gospel of 
love in the place of the heathen gods. Men wel- 
comed them because they thought it was better to 
be meek and forgiving than to be always fighting 
and quarrelling. Even when, as often happened, 
they did not give up fighting themselves, they 
respected men who would not return a blow, and 
who were always kind to the poor and the sick. 
One of the kings once gathered his great men 
together and asked them whether they would be 
Christians. ' So seems the life of man, king,' 



0: 



FIRST PERIOD. 17 

answered one of the chiefs, ' as a sparrow's flight 
through the hall when a man is sitting at meat in 
winter-tide with the warm fire lighted on the hearth 
but the chill rain-storm without. The sparrow flies 
in at one door and tarries for a moment in the light 
and heat of the hearth-fire, and then flying forth 
from the other vanishes into the wintry darkness 
whence it came. So tarries^or a moment the life 
of man in our sight, but «at is before it, what 
after it, we know not. If thiMBew teaching tell us 
ght certainly of these, let u Jpllow it.' 
4. The Monks. — The new teaching was gradually 
adopted. But the mass of men did not change 
their nature because they had learned to pray to 
Christ. It was much easier to -go to church, or to 
repeat prayers, than it iras to'^live as the gospel 
taught men to live. jVjpst' Englishmen remained as 
fond of fighting as they~were before. There were 
some, however, who tried hard to make themselves 
better, to forgive instead of taking vengeance,- and 
to live at peace instead of being constantly at war. 
Those who tried hardest to do this found that they 
could not succeed, unless they separated themselves 
altogether from the people round them. They 
therefore lived together in houses which were called 
•monasteries. Men who lived together in these 
monasteries were called monks, and women who 
lived together were called nuns. They lived very 
hard lives, not eating or drinking more than was 
quite necessary, and praying often, as well as working 
with their hands to procure their daily food. The 
ruins of many of these monasteries are to be found 



l8 OUTLINE OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

in England, and people sometimes say that the 
monks took care to choose very pretty places to live 
in. The truth is, that they did not care whether 
the places were pretty or not. They wanted to 
get away far from the temptations which were to be 
found where other men lived. They went to places 
as far as possible from the dwellings of men, where 
there was a stream of water to give them drink, and 
trees to give them wood to burn, and a little fertile 
ground on which to grow corn to eat. Grreen grass, 
and corn, with trees and a river, look very pretty to 
people now who visit them on a holiday, but those 
who had to live amongst them in those old days 
had hard work to do to get food enough to live on 
in such a country. 



CHAPTER IV. 
THE UNION OF ENGLAND. 

1. What Egbert did. — The lesson taught by the 
monks was one which men are slow to learn. The 
whole of England was full of bloodshed and con- 
fusion. The kings were perpetually fighting with 
one another. Sometimes one, sometimes another 
would have the upper hand. At last Egbert, the 
King of the West Saxons, subdued all the others. He 
was not King of all England in the sort of way that 
Victoria is Queen of all England. Some of the 
separate kingdoms still managed their own affairs. 

c 



FIRST PERIOD. 19 

But they all looked up to Egbert, and agreed not to 
fight against him or against each other any more. 

2. The Coming of the Danes. — Very likely, if this 
had been all, they would have separated again as 
soon as Egbert died. But during the lifetime of Eg- 
bert a new enemy appeared. A people who were call- 
ed Danes in England, and were called Northmen or 
Normans on the Continent, came from Denmark and 
Norway. They were very much what the ancestors 
of the English had been when they came with 
Hengist and Horsa 350 years before. They swept 
over the sea in light vessels, sailed up the mouths of 
the rivers, burnt, slew, and plundered, and then 
sailed away again before they could be caught. The- 
monasteries were their especial prey, for they 
knew that wealth would be stored up there. Though 
the monks had once been poor, people who reverenced 
them had brought them presents, not for themselves 
but for their churches. They had now gold and 
silver chalices and crosses, and their books were 
often bound in jewelled bindings. The Danes knew 
too that the monks could not fight. They killed 
the monks like sheep, set fire to the monasteries, 
and carried off everything that was valuable in them. 
In some places on the Continent a new petition was 
added to the Litany : ' From the fury of the North- 
men, Grood Lord deliver us ! ' 

3. The Fight against the Danes. — Egbert, and his 
son, and grandsons after him, did their best to 
resist the sea-robbers. Sometimes they won 
victories, sometimes they were defeated. But on 
the whole the sea-robbers pressed on. They were 



20 OUTLINE OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

no longer content to plunder and to sail away. 
They came in swarms and tried to settle in the 
land, as the English had settled in it before. It 
seemed as if they would succeed, and as if all 
England would fall into the power of the Danes. 

4. The First Year of Alfred the Great.— At last 
the Danes met their match. Alfred, the youngest 
and the noblest of the grandsons of Egbert, was 
chosen king on his elder brother's death. That 
brother had left a son who would, in our time, 
have succeeded to the throne. But a warrior was 
wanted, and the warrior-uncle was lawfully chosen 
instead of the boy-nephew. Alfred was at first 
defeated, and driven to take refuge in Athelney, 
which was then an island in the midst of the 
swamps of Somersetshire across which the Great 
Western Railway now runs with dry ground on either 
side. After some time, he came out, gathered his 
countrymen around him, defeated the Danes, and 
forced them to accept the treaty of Wedmore. 

5. Submission of the Danes to Alfred. — By the 
Treaty of Wedmore in 878 England was divided into 
two parts by a line which ran from the Thames a 
little below London to Chester on the Dee. To the 
south-west of this line the land was English. To 
the north-east it was Danish. The Danes had not 
indeed slaughtered all the English in their part, 
but they had taken the best lands, and they kept all 
power in their hands. The settlements of the Danes 
are known by the termination 'by 'at the ends of 
names of places. Such names as Grrimsby or Kirkby 
tell us that a Dane once settled there. * By ' means 

c 2 



FIRST PERIOD. 



21 




ENGLAND AS DIVIDED BY THK TKEATV OF WEDMORE, 878. 



29 OUTLINE OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

tlie place where people lived ; Grrimsbj is the living- 
place of Grim. Kirkby is the living-place by the 
Kirk or church. 

6. Alfred's Government. — Alfred seemed to be 
worse off than his grandfather had been. The 
Danes acknowledged that he was their over-lord 
or superior, but they were not likely to be very 
obedient. He had under him really only a piece of 
England instead of the whole. Yet that piece was 
better for him than the whole would have been. 
In the part that was under him were three of the 
old kingdoms, Wessex, Sussex, and Kent, a small 
part of Essex, and half of Mercia. Even if he had 
been only an ordinary man, we may be sure that 
these districts would have clung to him for fear of 
falling into the hands of the Danes. Very few men, 
however, are as great as Alfred was. People who 
do not know very much about men are apt to think 
a man is great because he has done something very 
great. Those who know most about men know that 
the best and greatest men are those who not only 
do great things, but know exactly what they cannot 
do, and so do not try to do what is impossible, 
though it may seem easy. Alfred was one of these 
men. He discovered at once that he could not sub- 
due the Danes in the North, and he contented him- 
self with defending his own part of the country. 
He set on foot a navy that the Danes might not 
attack him by sea. He did what was better than 
this ; he tried his best to make the people better 
and wiser than they were before. He strove to 



FIRST PERIOD. 23 

deny himself as much as the monks did. But he 
did it, not by leaving the world, but by living in 
the world, and helping his people. No king ever 
showed forth in his own person the truth of the 
saying, ' He that would be first amongst you let 
him be the servant of all,' as Alfred did. He was 
weak, and subject to a painful disease. Yet he 
gave himself no rest in doing good. He collected 
the best laws of his forefathers, added some of 
his own, and asked his people to accept them. He 
chose out the best and wisest men for his friends, 
and set them to teach others. He loved learning 
and books, not only because he wanted to know 
more himself, but because he wished to make his 
subjects know more. He translated books which he 
thought it would do them good to read, and when 
he knew anything that was not in the book, he 
put it into the translation, though it was not in 
the book itself. When he died he left behind him 
better laws, better education, a better and higher 
life altogether. 

7. The Submission of the Danes. — The English of 
the South soon showed that men who are better and 
wiser are also stronger than the fierce untaught 
barbarian, whenever they really try to defend them- 
selves, instead of leaving their defence to other 
people as the Britons did in the time of the Eomans. 
Alfi-ed's descendants who were kings after him, his 
son Edward, his grandson Athelstan, his great grand- 
sons Edmund and Edred, won by a slow and steady 
course of victory that northern England which Alfred 



24 OUTLINE OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

had given up as beyond his power to conquer. In 
954, seventy-six years after England had been 
divided by the Treaty of Wedmore, the process of 
reuniting it was completed. The English King 
came to rule over all England more completely than 
Egbert had done. Englishmen and Danes were alike 
subject to his government. 



CHAPTER V. 

THE ENGLISH AND THE DANISH KINGS. 

1. Edgar and Dunstan. — For some years the now 
united England was at peace. Edgar, the King 
who reigned after the short rule of his brother 
Edwy, is called by the chroniclers ' The Peaceful.' 
He is said to have been rowed by eight kings on 
the river Dee. The man who really governed in his 
name was Archbishop Dunstan. He was the first 
man who ruled England without being a fighting 
man. The work he had to do was to be done with 
brains more than with the sword. Dunstan had 
to keep England united, and to prevent the Danes 
and the English from quarrelling with one an- 
other. This would have been more difiicult than 
it was if the Danes and the English had been as 
different as Englishmen and Frenchmen. But they 
were very much alike, and though their languages 
were not. the same, they were not so different that 



FIRST PERIOD. 



25 



they could not easily learn to talk to one another. 
The Danes were ruder and less civilised than the 
English, but they had already become ChristianSa 




and they might be taught, as Englishmen had been 
taught, to live as Christians ought to live. 

2. Dunstan and the Danes. — In trying to make 



26 OUTLINE OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

the Danes and the Enghsh live peaceably together, 
Dunstan avoided one mistake which it is very easy 
to fall into. Many people are very anxious to im- 
prove others who do not know so much as them- 
selves, or are not so good as themselves, but they 
do not succeed because they want everybody to do 
'^exactly as they do, and to think exactly as they 
think. Dunstan did not try to make the Danes 
exactly like the English. He wished the Danes to 
keep their own laws and customs and the English 
to keep theirs. 

3. Bunstan brings in Schoolmasters. — Dunstan 
tried to unite men by teaching them to love what 
was true and beautiful. He was himself a lover of 
books, and music, and art. He was a great en- 
courager of education. In the long wars the English 
had forgotten much that their forefathers knew.. 
Dunstan sent abroad for schoolmasters, and nothing 
pleased him so much as to find a man who was fit 
to teach. If he encouraged the schoolmasters, he 
encouraged the monks as well. Monks, in those 
days, were not lazy as they afterwards became, 
Bede, who many years before had written a history 
of the country, was a monk. The men who wrote 
the Chronicle, that wonderful record in which the 
'^deeds of our forefathers were told in their own 
tongue, were also monks. 

4. Ethelred the Unready. — Edgar and Dunstan 
died and evil days came upon England. Edward, 
the next king, was murdered. Then came Ethelred, 
rightly named the Unready, or the man without 
counsel. Fresh Danes from Denmark and Norway 



FIRST PERIOD. 27 

came to plunder and conquer England. In some 
places resistance was made, but the King did no- 
thing to help the people who resisted. His onl}^ 
idea was to give the Danes plenty of money to go 
away. They went away, and of course they came 
back again and asked for more money to go away 
again. 

5. Elfheah the Martyr. — There were brave men 
in England ; but the bravest was Elfheah, the Arch- 
bishop of Canterbury. He was taken prisoner by 
the Danes, and set in their midst as they were 
feasting. They asked him for money. He told 
them it was not his to give, because he could only 
find money by taking it from the poor people on 
the estates belonging to him as archbishop. They 
grew so angry that they pelted him with beef-bones 
to make him yield. He would not yield, and at 
last they killed him with the hard bones. The 
English Church wisely counted him as a martyr and 
a saint. Long afterwards, one of his successors, the 
pure and holy Anselm, was asked whether a man 
could really be a martyr who did not die for the 
faith. ' Yes,' he answered, ' he who dies for right- 
eousness dies for the faith.' 

6. The Danish Conquest. — Brave men like Elf- 
heah, or like others who fought and died, could not 
beat off the Danes unless they had a better king 
than Ethelred. The Danes, this time, wanted to con- 
quer all England, They had a king, Swegen, at their 
head, who knew how to fight, and when he died his 
son Cnut, who succeeded him after his death, fought 
as well as his father. At last Ethelred died and was 



28 OUTLINE OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

succeeded by a brave and vigorous king, Edmund 
Ironsides. So fiercely did he fight with Cnut that 
the Danish king agreed to share England vs^ith the 
English king. Not long afterwards Edmund died, 
or was murdered, and Cnut got the whole country. 

7. The Reign of Cnut. — Cnut's reign was like 
Edgar's over again. Dane though he was, he let the 
English keep their own laws. He kept peace and 
established order with a strong hand. Though he 
was himself neither priest nor monk, he reverenced 
monks and priests as Dunstan had done. Once 
when he was rowing on those broad waters of 
the fens which have since been turned into rich 
pasture-land and corn-land, he heard the monks 
of Ely singing. He bade the boatmen row to the 
shore that he might listen to their song of praise 
and prayer. At another time he went on a pilgrim- 
age to Eome, that he might see the place which 
was reverenced through all the West of Europe 
as containing the burial-places of the Apostles 
Peter and Paul. He had learnt gentleness and 
righteousness since the old cruel fighting-days of 
his youth were over. He wrote a letter from 
Kome to his subjects. ' I have vowed to Grod,' he 
wrote, ' to live a right life in all things, to rule justly 
and piously my realms and subjects, and to ad-^ 
minister just judgment to all. If heretofore I have 
done aught beyond what was just, through headiness 
or negligence of youth, I am ready, with Grod's help, 
to amend it utterly.' 

8. The Sons of Cnut. — Cnut's sons who came after 
him were not like their father. They were wild and 



FIRST PERIOD. 29 

headstrong young men, and when they died 
Englishmen and Danes agreed to send beyond the 
sea for a son of Ethelred named Edward, who became 
king, and was afterwards known as Edward the 
Confessor, a name given by the Church to men of 
great piety, even when, as in Edward's case, piety 
was not accompanied by wisdom. 



CHAPTER VI. 

THE NORMAN CONaUEST. 

1. The Normans in France. — Edward had been 
brought up in chiklhood in his mother's country — 
Normandy. Many years before, the Normans, as the 
Danes were called on the continent, had seized the 
part of France which is on both sides of the mouth of 
the Seine, just in the same way as the Danes had 
seized the North of England. There had been a 
treaty which, like the Treaty of Wedmore, allowed 
them to keep the country they had taken. Their 
chief, Rollo, became Duke of the Normans. The 
Normans, after two or three generations, learned to 
speak French and to live as Frenchmen lived. But 
they did not become subjects of the French king in 
the way that the Danes in England became subjects 
of the English king. The French king was weak 
and could not conquer Normandy. The Norman 
duke treated him with all respect as his lord. 
Whenever a duke died, his successor acknowledged 



so OUTLINE OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

himself to be the French king's man, as was the 
phrase. He then knelt down and, placing his 
hands between the French king's hands, swore to be 
faithful to him. But, for all that, he did not obey 
him miless he chose to do so, but behaved as if he 
were an independent ruler. 




A NORMAN KNIGHT. 



2. Englishmen and 13'ormans. — In Normandy the 
duke had other men who were noblemen or gentle- 
men, who had their lands from him in the same way 
that he had his from the French king. They did 
homage to him and swore to be faithful to him. 
These men were called knights, and fought on horse- 



FIRST PERIOD. 31 

back, and were so accustomed to ride that once when 
some knights came to England and quarrelled with 
some- citizens of Dover, they got on horseback to 
attack men in their houses, which seems a strange 
thing to do. They themselves, and the clergy of 
Normandy, were more intelligent, and cared more for 
reading and for art than the English did. The 
English always fought on foot, and only used horses 
to ride on to the place of battle, getting off when 
the fighting was to begin. If, however, the Norman 
knights and clergy were more intelligent than the 
English were, the Englishmen who were not very 
rich were more justly treated than men of the 
same kind were in Normandy. The Norman 
knight could do almost as he liked with the pea- 
sants who lived on his estate, and who sowed 
and reaped for him, and he had a court of his 
own in which he could punish them as he pleased. 
In England the peasants were certainly not so well 
off as they had been in Alfred's time. Many of 
them were no longer free men, owning their own 
land, and gathering in their harvest for themselves, 
without working for any one else. They had become 
serfs, that is to say, they were allowed land to till 
for themselves if they would also work for their lord, 
and plough, and sow, and reap for him without being 
paid for their work. Still they could not be punished 
if they were accused of doing wrong without being 
allowed to bring their compurgators, who, if they 
disbelieved the accusations, would be ready to swear 
that they were innocent. In this way the lord was 
prevented from ill-treating them, and the poor man 



32 OUTLINE OF EXOLISH HISTORY. 

was much more justly dealt with in Englaud than 
he was in Normandy. 

3. Edward the Confessor favour's the Normans. — 
Edward might ha\e done great good if he had tried, 
as Dunstan had tried, to help his English subjects 
to learn what the Normans knew and they did not 
know. Instead of doing that, he despised English 
people and English ways. He did not like to have 
Englishmen about him. He sent for Normans and 
promoted them. He actually made one of them 
Archbishop of Canterbury. He talked French in- 
stead of English. All this made the English very 
angry ; and they were headed by a powerfid man, 
Godwin, who was Earl of the West Saxons — that is 
to say, who ruled the West Saxons under the King. 
There were two other earls of Mercia and North- 
umberland who were jealous of Grodwin, and G-odwin 
was driven into exile. After a short time he came 
back and drove out the Normans. 

4. Edward's last Days. — After Godwin's death, his 
son Harold was Earl of the West Saxons, and ruled 
England in the King's name. Edward had to be 
content without Normans round him. The thing 
that he cared for most was the building of the West 
Minster, the church of the great Westminster 
Abbey. It was not the one which is now to be seen. 
It was built with round arches, the fashion of build- 
ing which had been taught by the Eomans, and it 
was not till afterwards that men began to build with 
pointed arches. Edward did not live to see it con- 
secrated. He was buried in the church which he 
had founded. 



FIRST PERIOD. 33 

5, Harold, King of the English. — Edward left no 
son or brother to succeed him. His brother's grand- 
son, Edgar, known as the Atheling or the Prince, was 
but a boy, and England could not be ruled by a boy. 
The great men chose Harold as their king, though he 
was not of the royal race. Harold would under any 
circumstances have had a difficult task before him. 
The earls of Mercia and Northumberland were sure 
to be jealous of him, and the north of England was 
not inclined to do much to help a man who came 
from the south. Though England had long been 
governed as one country, it was not united in heart 
as it is now. A man who lived in York did not feel 
much interest in the safety of men who lived in 
Exeter or Southampton. Beyond the sea there were 
still worse dangers. Harald Hardrada, the Norwe- 
gian king, was threatening to invade Northern 
England, and William, Duke of the Normans, the 
ablest and most warlike of an able and warlike race, 
threatened Southern England. Harald Hardrada 
only wanted, as Cnut had done before him, to get 
as much land or wealth as he could, but William 
actually claimed to be the true English king. He 
had no rightful claim at all, but by putting together 
a niuTiber of reasons, none of w^hich was worth any- 
thing, he managed to make it seem as though he 
had a real claim. 

6. The Norman Invasion. — Harold, therefore, had 
hard fighting before him. He heard that Harald 
Hardrada had landed in Yorkshire. At once he 
marched north and defeated and slew the Norwegian 
Harald at Stamford Bridge, near York. On the field 



34 OUTLINE OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

of victory he was told that William had landed near 
Pevensey. He marched hastily southwards. If 
England had been united, William would certainly 
have been overcome. But the men of the centre 
and north of England did not care to fight for 
Harold. Only the men of the south and his own 
trained soldiers stood by him. His brother Gurth 
begged him not to risk a battle, and advised him to 
lay waste the land between London and Pevensey, 
so as to starve William out. Harold answered that 
not a foot of English ground should be desolated by 
him. He took up his position at Senlac on a chalk 
ridge a few miles north of Hastings. 

7. The Battle of Senlac— The Battle of Senlac, 
or of Hastings, as it is sometimes called, was one 
of those battles the winning of which depended 
on something more than mere bravery. Harold's 
Englishmen were as brave as William's Normans. 
But Englishmen thought, as Englishmen have often 
thought since, that it was best to do exactly as their 
fathers had done. The old fashion was to fight on 
foot, packed closely together, with their shields 
before them, and even a palisade in front of them. 
An army so defended can resist as long as it stands 
firm, but it cannot move from the spot where it is, 
without separating its shields and leaving openings 
through which the enemy can break in. William's 
Normans were mostly on horseback. They could 
move backwards and forwards, or sideways, just as 
their general wanted them to move. As usually 
happens, where two armies are equally brave, the 
>ne which had the commander with the strongest 

D 



FIRST PERIOD. 35 

brain prevailed. William's footmen and horsemen 
tried first to storm the hill and Vv'ere driven back. 
They tried again, and by William's orders pretended 
to fly. Some of the English were simple enough to 
think that the victory was won. They rushed out 
in triumph. The Normans swiftly turned back, 
chased them uphill, and broke through the palisade. 
The English could resist for hours yet, but they 




could not conquer. Slowly and surely the Norman 
horse pressed along the crest of the hill, strewing 
the height with corpses as the hay is strewn in 
swathes before the mower. Harold and his chosen 
comrades held out longest. Then William called 
for his archer? and bade them shoot into the air. 
Down came an arrow crushing through Harold's eye. 
The English King lay slain, and the Normans bed 
gained the victory. 



;36 OUTLINE OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

8. The Conquest of England.— It took three years 
and a half more to conquer England. The English 
had learned no lesson from their failure at Senlac. 
They could not unite against William. Sometimes 
the West resisted, sometimes the North. Each 
district fought separately, and each was separately 
overpowered. 



CHAPTER VII. 
THE CONaUEROR AND HIS SONS. 

WILLIAM I, 1066. WILLIAM IL, 1087- HENRY L, 1100. 

1. William the Conqueror. — William is known in 
history as the Conqueror. But the word did not , 
mean once what it means now. It did not mean 
a man who obtained his kingdom by a victory in 
war, but a man who obtained something which 
he did not possess before, whether he fought for 
it or not. William claimed to be King of Eng- 
land for certain reasons which, as he pretended, 
gave him a lawful title. Soon after the Battle of 
Senlac he was elected king by the great men, and 
though they were too much in fear of him to refuse 
to choose him, he could now speak of himself as the 
lawful King of England, as Edward and Alfred had 
been before him. He was one of those men who 
love order and good government whenever they do 
not come in the w^ay of their own plans. But he 
would suffer no one to withstand him. ' Stark he 

B 2 



FIRST PERIOD. 37 

was,' writes an Englishman of the time, ' to men 
who withstood him ; so harsh and cruel was he that 
none withstood his will. Earls that did aught 
against his bidding he cast into bonds. Bishops he 
stripped of their bishoprics ; abbots of their abbacies. 
He spared not his own brother ; first he was in 
the land, but the king cast him into bondage. II 
a man would live and hold his lands, need it were 
that he followed the king's will.' 

2. The Normans gain Lands in England. — Even 
when William did most wrong, he tried to make it 
seem as though it were rightly done. The fierce 
horsemen who had charged with him up the hill of 
Senlac had not come simply to please the Duke. 
They wanted to be great men in England , to own 
rich corn4ands and stately homes. If William had 
not got these things for them they would have 
turned against him. He therefore set to work to 
do as they wished, but he made robbery look like 
the enforcement of the law. He said that he had 
been the lawful king ever since the death of Edward, 
and that therefore all Englishmen who had fought 
against him at Senlac or anywhere else had been 
fighting against their lawful king, and had forfeited 
their lands as rebels. He thus got a very large 
number of estates into his hands, and these he 
gave away to his Norman followers. Before long, 
almost all the great estates were in the hands of 
Normans. The English kept small estates, or became 
dependent upon the great Norman landowners. 

3. William supported both by the Normans and 
the English. — In this way William was able to do 



38 OUTLINE OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

nearly everything that he wished to do. The 
Norman landowners submitted to him, because, 
if they had not had a king to lead them, the English 
would have driven them out. And, strange as it 
may seem, the English submitted to him not un- 
willingly. The Norman whom they hated most was 
not the king, but the landowner with his armed 
followers, who lived in their midst and was ready to 
ill-treat them. They would rather have had an 
English king than a Norman king. But they would 
rather have a Norman king to keep the Norman 
tyrants in order than no king at all. William had 
other schemes for securino- obedience. He took care 

o 

that even the richest of the Norman landowners 
should not hold much land in any one county, so that 
his power might be weakened by being unable to 
bring easily together into one place the men who 
lived on his estates, and who might be willing to 
fight for him. In the towns too he built castles, the 
ruins of which are to be seen now in many places. He 
filled them with soldiers of his own. One of these was 
built by him to keep down London, and is known as the 
Tower of London. He gave lands to the great lords 
en condition that they would fight for him and bring 
other fighting men with them. Those who had lands 
ia this way knelt down before him and did homage 
to him. In order that the lords might be able to 
bring the proper number of fighting men, they gave 
pieces of their land to men who did homage to them. 
William was afraid that those who had done homage 
to the lords would be more faithful to the lords 
than to him, and would fight for the lords against 



FIRST PERIOD. 39 

himself if they wanted to rebel. So he made 
all who had lands, either from him or from the 
lords, swear to him, at a great meeting at Salisbury, 
that they would be faithful to him. If they broke 
their oath he could punish them as traitors ; whereas 
^if he had not made them swear, they might have said 
that they must fight for their lords even against the 
king, because they had sworn to be faithful to them. 

4. William's Cruelty. — William did worse things 
than this to secure his power. He was afraid that 
the Scots and the Danes might combine to attack 
the North of England. He therefore resolved to 
place a barrier between him and them. He piti- 
lessly wasted the whole of the fertile Vale of York 
through which the North Eastern Eailway now runs 
amidst smiling fields, with the moors on one side 
and the wolds on the other. Every house was burnt, 
every blade of corn destroyed. The inhabitants 
perished or sold themselves into slavery to get food. 
Of some of them it is recorded that ' they bowed 
their necks in the evil days for bread.' This means 
that they had to give themselves up to be slaves, 
that they might escape starvation. 

5. The New Forest. — William's devastation in 
the north is less generally remembered than his de- 

^vastation in the south. The Vale of York he 
wasted in order to defend himself against his 
enemies. The New Forest he wasted for pleasure. 
Like all his race he was passionately fond of hunt- 
ing. It is said of him that ' he loved the high 
deer as if he had been their father.' There were 
terrible punishments for those who chased them 



40 OUTLINE OF ENGLISH HISTOE!f. 

without his leave. Any one who has ever lived neai 
the New Forest, and knows how poor the soil is, 
will be quite sure that it never could have been 
cultivated all over. What William did was to de- 
stroy the houses and crops scattered in fertile places. 
But even that was enough to bring on him the curses 
of the wanderers whom he had rendered homeless. 

6. Domesday Book. — Sometimes a man is blamed 
as much for things that he does well as for things 
that he does ill. To us one of his greatest titles 
to fame is the preparation of Domesday Book, a name 
which was explained by a writer, about a hundred 
years later, as meaning the day of doom, or judg- 
ment, because when it was appealed to in any dis- 
pute it was considered to settle the question. It 
was a record of the lands of England as well as 
of the men who owned them, and of the payments 
due to the king from each of these men. We know 
how useful such a record must have been. It en- 
abled the king to call upon each man to pay his fair 
share of taxation and no more. People then, as has 
sometimes happened since, would have been glad to 
pay no taxes at all. ' There was not,' they said, ' a 
single rood of land, nor was there an ox, nor a cow, 
nor a pig passed by. It is shameful to tell that which 
he thought it no shame to do.' Worse things even 
than this were said of him. ' The king and the 
head men loved much and overmuch covetousness 
on gold and on silver, and they recked not how sin- 
fully it was gotten, if only it came to them.' With 
all his hardness William was a lover of justice when 
justice did not come in the way of his own projects^ 



FIRST PERIOD. 41 

He punished thieves and murderers without mercy. 
It was said that any man might go in his days from 
one end of the kingdom to the other with his bosoi\, 
full of gold. 

7. William Rufus. — The Conqueror's son, William 
II., Rufus or the Red King, as he was called, was 
as able as his father. He never undertook any- 
thing in which he failed. He never allowed him- 
self to be stopped by any obstacle which it was 
possible to overcome. Once he was eager to cross 
the Channel to put down an insurrection in Nor- 
mandy. He reached the sea-coast in the midst of a 
furious storm. The seamen refused to put out in 
such a tempest. ' Did you ever hear of a king that 
was drowned ? ' he said. He forced them to sail, 
reached the other side safely, and overpowered his 
enemies. With his father's ability he had none of 
his father's love of justice. He was desperately 
wicked with more than ordinary wickedness. Yet 
even this man owed his throne to the support of the 
English people. His elder brother, Robert, had 
inherited the Dukedom of Normand}^ The Nor- 
man nobles in England wished him to be King of 
England too. They knew he was soft and irresolute, 
and would let them do just as they pleased. The 
last thing which the English people wished was that 
the Norman nobles should do as they pleased. 
What they pleased was to oppress their English 
neighbours. The English therefore rallied in 
thousands round William, and the Normans sullenly 
submitted to his rule. 

8. William Rufus and Anselm. — After some time 



42 OUTLINE OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

William was brought into conflict with a man whose 
gentle nature was even stronger than his own 
violent one. The Conqueror had filled the bishop- 
rics and abbacies with Norman prelates, but had 
taken care to appoint none who were not distin- 
guished for intelligence. The Eed King looked 
upon the right of appointment as a means of 
getting money. He hit upon the simple plan 
of not appointing a successor at all to any 
bishop or abbot who happened to die. He then 
took for himself all the money which would have 
belonged to the bishop or abbot if there had 
been one. At last he fell dangerously ill. When 
he was very ill even the Eed King had a little con- 
science, and his conscience told him that he had 
been doing wrong. The men who were about him 
begged him to appoint an Archbishop of Canterbury. 
They urged him to choose Anselm for the post. 
Anselm was a stranger from Italy who had been at 
the head of a monastery in Normandy. He was a very 
learned man, and the holiest and gentlest of men then 
living. He did not wish to be the Archbishop. He 
knew that as archbishop he could not live near the 
king without speaking the truth of him. The 
plough of England, he said, cannot go straight if 
you yoke to it a fierce young bull and a quiet old 
sheep. His remonstrances were in vain. He was 
dragged to the sick king's bedside and his hands 
were forced open that the crozier, the mark of the 
bishop's authority, might be forced into them. 
Anselm had spoken truly. The Eed King recovered, 
and ceased to have a conscience anv lono-er. Anselm 



FIRST PERIOD. 



43 



persisted in saying and doing what lie thought 
right, and was forced to leave the kingdom. 

9. William's end was sudden. One day his 
corpse was found in the New Forest with an arrow 
through his heart. A certain Walter T3rrrell was 
thought to have done the deed. But no one saw 
him do it, and it is quite as likely that the 
murderer was one of the many sufferers who had 
been driven from their homes when the New Forest 
was made. 




HENRY I. 



10. Henry I. — Henry I., the youngest son of 
the Conqueror, was chosen to succeed him. He 
married an English wife, a great grand-daughter 
of Edmund Ironside. Through her the kings of 
England are descended not merely from William 
the Conqueror, but also from Alfred and Egbert. 
Henry, like William, had a quarrel with Anselm. 



u 



OUTLINE OF Ei\(>LISH HISTORY. 



But after a time the two men were reconciled. 
Henry, too, put down the great Norman landowners 
with a heavy hand. His English subjects did not love 
him. His rule was too stern and his taxation too 
heavy for that. But they preferred a stern king 




MILITARY, CIVIL, AND ECCLESIASTICAL COSTUME. 
TIME, HENRY I. 

to the tyranny of the Norman landowners. They 
called him the Lion of Justice, and they served 
him faithfully for thirty-five years. With their help 
he overcame his brother Eobert, took Normandy 
from him, and shut him up in Cardiff Castle as a 
prisoner for life. 



FIRST PERIOD. 45 



CHAPTER YIII. 

THE ANARCHY OF STEPHEN'S REIGN AND THE 
RESTORATION OF ORDER BY HENRY II. 

STEPHEN, 1135. HENRY IL, 1154. 

1. King Stephen. — When Henry died, Englishmen 
discovered what was the misery from which his 
hard rule had saved them, Henry's son, William, 
ha-d been drowned in passing from Normandy to 
England, and though the barons, that is to say, the 
great landowners in England, had sworn to accept 
his daughter Ma,tilda as their Queen, they refused to 
do so after his death. They chose instead his nephew 
Stephen. Stephen was not in any way a usurper, 
as he is sometimes called. There was then no law or 
custom giving the crown to the eldest son of the 
last king. The great men had always chosen some 
one of the royal family. There had never been a 
queen in England before, and at a time when the 
king was accustomed to go to battle, most men 
would think that there ought not to be a queen. 
Stephen was the man who was the nearest related 
to Henry. He was a generous and well-disposed 
man, but he had not the strong will of the three 
kings before him. He could not keep the barons in 
order. Soon Matilda came to England and claimed 
the throne. Some of the barons fought for her, 
and some for Stephen. In reality very few of them 
cared either for her or for Stephen. They knew 



46 OUTLINE OF ENOLISH HISTORY. 

that, as long as there were two persons fighting for 
the crown, they themselves could do as they pleased. 
2. Tyranny of the Nobles. — What they pleased 
io do was ruinous for the English people. They 
built strong castles and filled them with armed men. 
From these they rode out as robbers, as a wild beast 
goes forth from its den. ' They fought among 
themselves with deadly hatred, they spoiled the 
fairest lands with fire and rapine ; in what had been 
the most fertile of counties they destroyed almost 
all the provision of bread.' Whatever money or 
valuable goods they found they carried off. They 
burnt houses and sacked towns. If they suspected 
any one of concealing his wealth they carried him off 
to their castle, and there they tortured him to make 
him confess where his money was. ' They hanged 
up men by their feet and smoked them with foul 
smoke. Some were hanged up by their thumbs, 
others by the head, and burning things were hung 
on to their feet. They put knotted strings about 
men's heads, and twisted them till they went to the 
brain. They put men into prisons where adders 
and snakes and toads were crawling, and so they 
tormented them. Some they put into a chest short 
and narrow and not deep, and that had sharp stones 
within, and forced men therein so that they broke 
all their limbs. In many of the castles were hate- 
ful and grim things called rachenteges, which two 
or three men had enough to do to carry. It was 
thus made ; it was fastened to a beam and had a 
sharp iron to go about a man's neck and throat, so 
that he might noways sit or lie or sleep, but he bore 



FIRST PERIOD. 47 

all the iron. Many thousands they starved with 
hunger.- The unhappy sufferers had no one to 
help them. Stephen and Matilda were too busy 
with their own quarrel to do justice to their subjects. 
Poor men cried to heaven, but they got no answer. 
' Men said openly that Christ and his saints were 
asleep.' 




KING HENBY II. 



3. Henry II. restores Order. — At last a change 
came In 1154, after a reign — if reign it can be 
called— of nineteen years, Stephen died. He was 



48 OUTLINE OF ENGLISH HiSTOP.Y. 

succeeded by Matilda's son, Henry II. Like his 
grandfather Henry I., this king was a strong man — 
not gentle or merciful, but understanding clearly 
that if he wanted to be strong he must gain the 
good will of the people, and must put down the 
cruel tyrants who were his enemies as much as 
theirs. He set himself at once to pull down the 
castles. This was enough to restore order, because 
when the barons had no longer any strong place to 
which they could carry off their victims and their 
plunder, they no longer dared to ill-treat their neigh- 
bours. 

4. Military reforms of Henry II.— When this 
was done, Henry set to work to prevent anything of 
the kind happening again. There was no army then 
as there is now, composed of men who leave their 
homes for several years to become soldiers. The 
fighting force was composed partly of the great land- 
owners, who had their lands from the king on con- 
dition of fighting for him on horseback, and partly 
of the men who had only small estates, who were 
bound to come out and defend their own homes if 
an invader landed in the country or a rebellion took 
place. Henry wanted to weaken the great land- 
owners, and offered to excuse them from serving 
him as soldiers if they would pay him money. They 
were glad enough to be saved the trouble of fighting 
for the king, and were well pleased to pay money 
instead. In this way they grew less accustomed to 
fight, and so less dangerous to the king. On the 
other hand, Henry encouraged the men with little 

land, and arranged that they should always have 

« 

\ 



FIRST PERIOD. 49 

arms, so that they might be ready to defend them- 
selves. 

5. Judicial Reforms. — Other reforms, too were 
made by Henry. The law was improved in many 
ways. His grandfather had begun to send judges 
round the country, as they go now to the Assizes in 
different parts. Henry II. sent them out frequently, 
and directed them to find out the truth by asking a 
certain number of men in each county to which they 
came, who was the true owner of land in dispute, or 
who had committed murders or robberies. These 
men were sworn to tell the truth. After a while it 
was found that they did not always know what the 
truth was, and wanted to ask some one else. So by 
degrees after Henry's reign, the custom grew up 
that they should not say what they thought was 
true till they had heard the evidence of other people. 
In this way they gradually grew to be what our jmy 
is, that is to say, a body of men which, after it has 
heard evidence in Court, declares its belief that 
something is true. This is called giving a verdict, 
a word which means ' truly said.' In Henry's time 
they declared their belief from their own private 
knowledge, without hearing evidence at all. 
\/ 6. Union of English and Normans. — These changes 
were brought about by Henry. There was another 
change which was going on, with which he had 
nothing to do. There was no longer a strict line of 
division between English and Normans. When Henry 
came to the throne, eighty-eight years had passed 
since the Conquest, and during that time Normans and 
English had often married one another. In Henry's 



/)() OUTLINE OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

reigTL the upper classes still talked French, and the 
lower classes, who were almost entirely English by 
birth, talked English. But no one in the higher 
classes could say that he was altogether Norman, as 
he was almost certain to have had an English mother 
or grandmother. 

7. Henry II. and the Clergy. — Henry was very 
successful in most things, but there was one thing 
in which he was not successful. The clergy then 
held the opinion that no clergyman who had com- 
mitted any crime ought to be tried by the king's 
courts. He should be tried by special Church 
courts, and as the Church courts could not put any 
one to death, if a clergyman committed a murder he 
was only shut up in a monastery, whilst a layman 
who committed the same offence, and was tried by the 
king's court, was hanged. The idea of a clergyman 
committing a murder happily seems strange now. . 
But now clergymen are men who devote themselves 
to religious work. Then, everybody who wanted to 
live otherwise than by manual labour or by fighting 
became a clergyman. Scarcely any one except the 
clergy learned to read and write. Many men, there- 
fore, became clergymen who wanted to work with 
their brains rather than with their hands. Then, as 
now, some people wanted to use their brains for the 
purpose of cheating others. Then, as now, some 
people wanted to use their brains to lead idle lives at 
the expense of others, and therefore the clergy in 
Henry the Second's time included a great many idle 
and wicked men. Henry II. insisted that these men, 
if they committed crimes, should be tried in his courts, 

E 



FIRST PERIOD. 51 

8. Henry II. makes Becket Archbishop of Canter- 
bury. — Thomas Becket had been Henry's chancellor, 
whose business it was to write letters for him, and 
look after his affairs. He had been a gay, extra- 
vagant man, very zealous in doing all that Henry 
wished, and Henry therefore now appointed him 
Archbishop of Canterbury, expecting him to help 
him in making the clergy submit to be tried in the 
king's courts. 

9. Quarrel between Henry II. and Becket. — As 
soon as Becket became archbishop he turned against 
the king, lived very plainly, and gave up all his 
expensive habits. Becket was the sort of man who 
was sure to take up any quarrel warmly, and he 
was not quite without arguments on his side. 
Henry might ask why a clergyman w^ho had com- 
mitted a murder should not be punished in the 
same way as a layman. Becket w^ould answer that a 
clergyman belonged to a holy order, and ought not 
to be punished by a lay judge, which is not an answer 
to w^hich we should pay much attention now. He 
might also have said that it did not follow that a lay 
judge would always judge justly. We are accustomed 
to judges who always do their best to be just. In 
early times judges often did not care whether they 
were just or not. Henry himself, when he was out 
of temper, did not care whether he was just or not. 
He caused Becket to be accused before his court on 
a trumpery pretext and had him fined enormously. 
What the clergy really had to fear w^as that the 
king, if once his courts were allowed to judge them, 
would not be content with punishing those of them 
w^ho robbed or murdered, but would also punish those 



52 OUTLINE OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

who were quite innocent, for the sake of getting their 
money. Even Henry, lover of order as he was, was 
capable of the wildest passion. Sometimes, when he 
received news which he disliked, he would throw 
himself on the floor, and roll about amidst the straw 
or rushes which then served instead of a carpet, 
biting them with his teeth in his rage. But though 
all this was true, it is also true that Becket was an 
ambitious man fond of contention, and not at all a 
gentle and holy saint who cared only for righteous- 
ness as Anselm had cared for it. 

10. Murder of Becket. — At first Henry got the 
better of the archbishop ; Becket refused to submit, 
and left the kingdom. After some years the two 
made peace and Becket returned to Canterbury. 
Becket again displeased the king. Henry fell into 
one of his rages and cried out, ' Who will rid me of 
this turbulent priest ? ' Four knights at once left 
the house and made their way to Canterbury. They 
found Becket, and after using angry words to which 
he replied no less angrily, they rushed away to arm 
themselves. Becket's friends persuaded him to 
take refuge in the cathedral. He showed no sign of 
fear. When the armed knights were heard approach- 
ing, he refused to allow his followers to shut the 
doors. ' No one,' he said, ' should be debarred from 
entering the house of God.' Most of those who 
were with him ran off to hide themselves. He re- 
mained quiet and unmoved as the knights dashed 
in, shouting, ' Where is the traitor ? ' ' Behold me,' 
he answered; 'no traitor, but a priest of God.' 
One of the knights seized on him to drag him out 

E 2 



FIRST PERIOD. 



53 



of the cathedral. Becket dashed him to the ground, 
calling one of the others by a foul name, not such a 
one as would have proceeded from the lips of Anselm. 
The knight smote at him with his sword. One of 
Becket's few faithful attendants thrust his arm 







THE PEXA^'CE OF HENRY II. 



forward to receive the blow. The arm was almost 
cut off. Other blows followed, and Becket fell 
bleeding to the floor. The murderers did not leave 
him till life was gone. Nothing worse could have 



54 OUTLINE OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

happened for Henry. He who wanted to be a re- 
storer of law appeared before the world as a mur- 
derer. The great nobles at once took advantage of 
his mistake, and rose in rebellion, hoping to be 
supported by all who were displeased with Henry's 
conduct. Henry at once saw that he must persuade 
people that he was sorry for what he had doneo 
Perhaps, like most people who are passionate, he 
really was sorry. He came to Canterbury and knelt 
down before Becket's tomb, and told the monks to 
flog him as a punishment for his crime His repent- 
ance, whether it were real or not, satisfied the people. 
They did not want to be ruled over by the great 
nobles, and to have again such misery as they had 
endured in the evil days of Stephen. Henry's armies 
were everywhere victorious, and he once more ruled 
England without opposition. But he was obliged to 
give up most of his claims over the clergy. Becket 
was revered as a priest and a martyr, though there 
was very little that was saint-like in him. For 
many generations crowds used to flock to Canterbury 
to pray at his tomb. The marks on the pavement 
are still to be seen which were made by men and 
x^omen moving up the church on their knees towards 
the place where his body was. 

11. Henry's foreign Dominions. — Henry's dominions 
were even more extensive beyond the seas than they 
were in England. He conquered part of Ireland, 
and from his time the English kings counted Ireland 
as subject to them. But it was not till the end of 
Elizabeth's reign, more than four hundred years 
later, that the whole country was really subdued. 



FIRST PERIOD. 55 

Besides this, Henry, partly by inheritance from his 
father and mother, and partly by his marriage, ruled 
over the western part of France from the English 
Channel to the Pyrenees. From Anjou, which he 
had from his father, he and his sons are known as 
the Angevin kings. He had great trouble with his 
own sons. The elder ones rebelled against him 
from time to time, and he trusted the youngest, 
John, more than all. At last there was a war be- 
tween Henry and the King of France. When peace 
was made, Henry asked to know who were those of 
his own subjects who had promised to help the 
French against him. The list was shown him, and 
the first name on the list was that of John. He 
could not bear the revelation. He fell sick and 
died in a few days. ' Shame, shame, on a conquered 
king,' were the last words that he spoke. He was 
succeeded by his son Kichard. 



CHAPTEE IX. 



THE SONS OF HENRY II., AND THE GEEAT 

jCHARTER. 

richard i., 1189. john, 1199. 

1. The Crusades. — Richard I. was hardly an Eng- 
lish king. He only visited England twice during his 
reign, and that was only to get as much money as 
he could. Early in his reign he went on a crusade. 
The Crusades had begun in the time of William 



56 ' OUTLINE OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

Kufus. Christian pilgrims had long been in the 
habit of visiting Jerusalem to pray at the spots 
where Our Lord was born, was crucified, and was 
buried. The Arabs, who before the time of William 
Eufus, governed Jerusalem, allowed these pilgrims 
to come and go in peace. Then Jerusalem was 
conquered by the Turks, who came from the middle 
of Asia, and did not then rule at Constantinople. 
These Turks were much more brutal than the Arabs, 
and ill-treated the pilgrims. A man, called Peter 
the Hermit, went about Western Europe, calling on 
all men to take arms and to rescue Jerusalem from 
the Turks, who as well as the Arabs were Mahome- 
tans, or believers in a religion which had been 
preached by Mahomet. The pope gave his approval, 
and crowds of men poured out of Western Europe to 
conquer the Holy Land. The enterprise was called 
a crusade, because those who went fixed a cross to 
their dress, as a sign that they counted themselves 
as the warriors of Christ. Large numbers were 
starved or killed on the way, but a smaller body of 
wxll-armed knights and noblemen followed and con- 
quered Jerusalem. There was a strange mixture of 
brutality and humility in these men. When Jerusa- 
lem was taken there was a horrible massacre of the 
inhabitants. Not only were grown men and women 
butchered in cold blood, but innocent children were 
dashed to death against the walls. The Crusaders 
set up a Christian kingdom of Jerusalem, and chose 
one of their number, Grodfrey of Bouillon, as the first 
king. He ruled as king, but he refused to be 
crowned. He would not, he said, wear a crown of 
gold where his Saviour had worn a crown of thorns. 



FIRST PERIOD. 57 

2. Richard I. goes on a Crusade. — The Christian 
kingdom of Jerusalem lasted almost to the end of 
the reign of Henry II. Then Jerusalem was again 
conquered by the Mahometans. Before this, very few 
English had taken part in the crusades. Eichard now 
determined to set out to recover Jerusalem. He was 
an excellent warrior, fond of adventure, and loving 
fighting for the sake of excitement and amusement. 
But he was quarrelsome, and determined not only 
to do more than any one else, but to make men 
acknowledge that he did more than any one else. 
Men like this never succeed. Before he reached 
the Holy Land he had quarrelled with the King of 
France. After he reached the Holy Land he quar- 
relled with the Duke of Austria. He fought bravely 
and won renown against Saladin, the Mahometan 
leader. But the men of other nations would not 
join heartily with him. He could not retake Jerusa- 
lem. Once, indeed, he came within sight of it. 
But he turned proudly and sadly away, and refused 
to look on the place where a mosque, or building for 
Mahometan worship, rose on the site which had once 
been occupied by the temples of Solomon, of Zerub- 
babel, and of Herod. If he was not worthy, he said, 
to regain the Holy City, he was not worthy even to 
look on it. 

3. Eichard I. returns home. — Having accomplished 
nothing he returned home. He attempted to pass 
overland through Austria, but he was recognised 
and detained. The Duke of Austria handed him 
over to the Emperor, Henry VI., who ruled over 
Grermany and a great part of Italy, and the Emperor 
keot him in prison till his mother and his friends 



58 OUTLINE OF ENGLISH HISTOEY. 

ransomed him with a large sum of money. The 
rest of his life was spent by him in fighting in 
France. At last he was shot down by a man who 
aimed at him from a castle wall. The castle was 
taken before he died, and he ordered his attendants 
to spare the man to whom he owed his death. There 
was a nobleness in him besides the bravery, which 
made him long remembered as Coeur de Lion, or the 
Lion-Hearted. But he had no thought of making 
the people over whom he ruled better or happier, 
and England has no cause to be grateful to him. 
4. John loses Normandy. — In 1199, Eichard's 
youngest brother John was chosen king in pre- 
ference to the boy Arthur, who was the son of 
another brother, Geoffrey, who was dead, and who 
was younger than Eichard, but older than John. 
John therefore came to the throne in the same way 
as Alfred and Stephen, and it is only by mistake 
that some people call him an usurper. John was 
as wicked as William Eufus, utterly selfish and ra- 
pacious. ' He feared not God nor regarded man.' He 
could be very mean and very cruel. At the beginning 
of his reign he was afraid lest Arthur, when he grew 
up, should be too strong for him, and Arthur dis- 
appeared. No one told how Arthur was murdered. 
Some said that John had drowned him with his own 
hands, but it is not known whether this is true. The 
King of France at once ordered John, who was Duke 
of Normandy as well as King of England, to come 
to Paris to be tried for murder, and when he refused 
to come, took from him a great part of his lands in 
France, The lands between the English Channel 



FIEST PERIOD. 59 

and the Loire which John had from his father were 
lost. Only the lands south of the Loire, which John 
had from his mother, were kept. 

5. John's Tyranny in England. — In England John 
tried to enrich himself by heavy taxes, which he laid 
on at his own pleasure, and by plundering rich per- 
sons. It is said that he threw into prison a rich Jew 
who refused to give him an enormous sum of money, 
and pulled out one of the Jew's teeth every day till 
he paid what was asked. Wealthy noblemen were 
treated in much the same way. In Stephen's time 
the great landowners oppressed the people, and the 
people had therefore supported Henry IL, and had 
made him strong that he might reduce the great 
landowners to order. John oppressed both great 
and small, and made them join together against 
himself. Eeady as all classes were to resist the 
tyrant, it wap a long time before they dared to 
rebel. He brought into England large bodies of 
foreign mercenaries, or hired soldiers, thoroughly 
trained for fighting, who would do anything that 
John ordered them to do as long as they received 
money from him. 

6. John and the Monks of Canterbury. — John 
fancied that no one could resist him. The monks 
of Canterbury had the right of electing the arch- 
bishop, but as they had always chosen the man 
whom the king asked them to choose, they had not 
hitherto had an important part to play in the matter. 
When the archbishop died, John ordered them to 
elect his treasurer, the Bishop of Norwich. They 
chose instead one of themselves, a certain Eeginald, 



60 OUTLINE OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

and sent him off to the pope to ask for his support 
They charged Eeginald to hold his tongue till he 
reached Eome. Eeginald, however, was so vain of 
his election that he chattered about it as soon as 
he had passed the sea. John was furious when he 
heard what had happened, and forced the monks to 
elect the Bishop of Norwich, as if they had never 
elected Eeginald. 

7. Stephen Langton chosen Archbishop at Rome. — 
When Eeginald arrived at Eome he found himself 
in the presence of one of the greatest of the popes. 
Innocent III. Innocent believed that it would be 
best for the world if kings and nobles had nothing 
to do with appointing bishops, and if they could be 
compelled to keep out of war by submitting their 
quarrels to the arbitration of the pope. Innocent 
therefore would not accept the treasurer as arch- 
bishop, and he saw that Eeginald was too foolish 
a man to make a good archbishop. He told the 
monks who had come to Eome with Eeginald that 
they had better choose Stephen Langton, a pious 
and learned Englishman, to the vacant see. This 
they did, and Eeginald had to return a disappointed 
man. 

8. England under an Interdict. — John was still 
more furious with the pope than he had been wdth 
the monks. He refused to admit Stephen Langton 
into England, and plundered the clergy. Innocent 
laid England under an interdict, that is to say, 
ordered the clergy to put a stop to all the public 
services of the church. The Holy Communion was 
no longer to be received, no funeral service was to 



FIEST PERIOD. 61 

be heard at the burial of those who died, baptism 
was only administered in private. To the mass of 
the people it was horrible to be cut off from attend- 
ance upon the services of the Church. It seemed 
as though the gate of heaven were closed against 
them. John did not care whether it was closed or 
not. He took a malicious pleasure in seizing the 
lands and goods of the clergy who obeyed the pope 
by shutting up their churches. 

9. John excommunicated. — Then Innocent pro- 
ceeded to excommunicate the king — that is to say, 
to deprive him of the right of partaking of the Holy 
Communion. When excommunication had been 
pronounced, all pious Christians were expected to 
avoid the society of the excommunicated person. John 
cared as little for excommunication as he had cared 
for the interdict, and he treated the clergy more 
cruelly than ever. Then the pope invited Philip 
II., King of France, to invade England and dethrone 
the excommunicated John. Philip was not usually 
very obedient to the pope, but he found out that it 
was quite right to obey him when obedience might 
make him king of England as well as king of 
France. John had no one to trust but his mer- 
cenaries. Almost every Englishman would be on 
Philip's side. He therefore resolved to make his 
peace with Innocent. Taking off his crown he laid 
it at the feet of Pandulph, the pope's legate, and ac- 
knowledged that he would thenceforth hold it under 
the pope, and would pay him a sum of money every 
year as an acknowledgment of his superiority. He 
also agreed to acknowledge Langton as Archbishop. 



62 OUTLINE OF ENGLISH HISTORY„ 

10. Demands of the Barons. —Philip was greatly 
disappointed. He had to give up the invasion of 
England. The English nobles were disappointed 
too They wanted not merely that the clergy 
should be safe, but that every man, layman or 
clergyman, rich or poor, should be safe under the 
protection of the law. When Archbishop Stephen 
Langton arrived in England, he was large-minded 
enough to see that it was better for the clergy to 
join with the laity than to be content with the pope's 
protection for themselves. The nobles gathered 
an army together, and the archbishop drew up the 
demands which the king was to be asked to grant. 
This time the king had not his mercenaries with 
him. Sulkily and sorely against his will John swore 
at Eunnimede, an island in the Thames near Staines, 
to give all that he was asked to give. 

11, Magna Carta. — The demands which, in 1215, 
he swore to grant, are know^n in history as the G-reat 
Charter, or by their Latin name as Magna Carta, 
By them the king engaged to levy no payments 
from those who held their lands from him, except 
in certain specified cases, unless they granted money 
to him themselves. Neither was he to deal with 
the life and goods of Englishmen at his pleasure. 
'No freeman,' he was made to declare, 'shall be 
seized, or imprisoned, or dispossessed, or outlawed, 
or in any way brought to ruin ; nor will we go 
against any man nor send against him, save by the 
legal judgment of his peers or by the law of the 
land.' The Great Charter contained other articles 
of the highest value. But the root of the matter 



FIEST PERIOD. 63 

lay in these two. The king of England was not to 
be a man raised up above his fellows to take as much 
of their money as he pleased, or to imprison them 
or punish them when he pleased. He was to take 
their money when they gave it him for public 
objects, and he was to punish them only when they 
were adjudged to have committed crimes by the 
verdict of their fellow-countrymen. Later genera- 
tions built on these two principles a whole system of 
law. But it is the Grreat Charter which is the 
foundation of it all. The first principle, that the 
king could not take money when he pleased, made 
him obliged to take the advice of his subjects, 
because they would not give him money unless he 
did as they wished him to do. Grradually in this 
way the government of the country came to be 
carried on not as the king wished but as the people 
wished. The second principle, that the king could 
not punish those whom he wished has brought it 
about that we are governed by law, and not by the 
will of any one man. 

12. Final Troubles of the Reign. — It was easier 
to lay down such principles than to enforce them, 
John was not inclined to submit to his subjects 
longer than he could help. He slipped away, got- 
together his mercenaries, turned savagely upon the 
nobles who had resisted him, and drove them before 
him. They, in turn, called in foreign help. As he 
in his necessity had taken the pope to be his sup- 
porter, so they in their necessity called upon Lewis, 
the son of the king of France, to come to be their 
king. Lewis landed with an army. The pope took 



64 OUTLINE OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

the part of John. Like some other people, he could 
not bear to see a good thing done unless he were the 
doer of it. The fortune of war seemed likely to 
decide against John and the pope. As John crossed 
the sands of the Wash, the tide rose and swept away 
his baggage, in which was a large quantity of money. 
Disappointed, he fell ill and died at Newark in the 
autumn of 1216. 



CHAPTER X. 
HENRY III. AND THE BAEONS' WARS. 

HENRY III. 1216. 

1. The English People declare for Henry III. — It 

seems strange to us that a Frenchman should have 
been invited to reign in England. The idea that 
those who govern a nation should be born in it and 
speak its language could not be felt as strongly 
then as it is now. It is true that the mass of men 
then, as now, spoke English. But the nobles and 
great men spoke French, and the clergy used Latin 
in the services of the Church, and wrote and some- 
times spoke in Latin. Still, especially after Nor- 
mandy had been lost, the English people were 
beginning to feel that they were Englishmen, what- 
ever language they spoke. The few who followed 
John to the last crowned his son Henry as king, 
and those who had opposed John after a little time 



FIRST PERIOD. 



65 



accepted Henry. Lewis found himself deserted, and 
was obliged to return to France. 

2. Accession of Henry III.^Henry III. was but 
nine years old. It was the first time that a child 
had been king of England. If he had had an uncle 




WILLIAM MARSHALL, EAKL OF PEMBROKE. 

or an older cousin he would probably never have 
ruled. As he had none, men preferred an English 
child as their king to a grown-up man who was 
French. The noble William Marshall, Earl of Pem- 
broke, g^overned the kingdom during the short 



66 OUTLINE OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

remainder of his life. The Great Charter was ac^ 
cepted as the law of the land ; but the part of it for- 
bidding the king to tax those who held lands from 
him without their consent was left out. 

3. Henry's Weakness of Character.— When young 




KING HENRY III. 



Henry became a man, he made a very bad king. 
He was not cruel and violent like his father, but 
weak and contemptible. He made many promises 
but never kept them. He was fond of spending 
money, and he often spent it to no good purpose. 



FIEST PERIOD. 67 

The beat thing that he did was to rebuild West- 
minster Abbey, and to make it very much what it 
now is. Ever since the days of Henry II. the 
pointed arches had been used in churches and other 
buildings in the place of the round arches of the 
days of the Conqueror and his son. Henry's work, 
in building the great abbey-church was well done. 
But he could never understand that he had any 
duty to perform to England. Like Edward the Con- 
fessor in many respects, he was like him in this, 
that he preferred foreigners to Englishmen. Two 
batches of foreigners were specially favoured by him. 
First came his mother's relations from Poitou, in the 
west of France, to the south of the Loire. Then 
came his wife's relations from Provence, a land on 
the shores of the Mediterranean, to the east of the 
Ehone. Whatever there was that Henry had to give 
away, castles, lands, lordships, and even bishoprics, 
went to these foreigners. Englishmen, both laymen 
and clergymen, naturally grumbled at a system which 
gave all the good things to the foreigners, and left 
only the crumbs to be picked up by them. 

4. Henry sends Money to the Pope. — Before long 
another mischief appeared. The popes, the successors 
of Innocent III., engaged themselves in wars in 
Italy. They gave out that they were fighting for 
the cause of Christianity itself. Henry believed all 
they said, and allowed them to send men to Eng- 
land to tax the English clergy. As they did not get 
enough in this way to satisfy them, he himself laid 
taxes upon both clergy and laity and sent the 

money to Rome. 

p2 



68 OUTLINE OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

5. Growing Influence of Parliament. — To levj' 
these taxes he was obhged to ask the consent of a 
body which was now beginning to be called Parlia- 
ment. It had existed under different names, and 
with some difference in its composition^ ever since 
ithe English had come into the island. At the 
beginning of this reign it very much resembled 
the present House of Lords without any House 
of Commons. There were in it barons who were 
landowners with large estates, and also the bishops 
and the principal abbots or heads of the monasteries. 
But though parliament was continually asked for 
money, and though for some time it granted what 
was asked, the dissatisfaction with a king who 
squandered English money on foreigners grew 
deeper every year. 

6. Simon de Montfort. — At last the barons and. 
clergy of England found a leader in a man who was, 
strangely enough, a foreigner by birth. Simon de 
Montfort, Earl of Leicester, had married the king's 
sister. He was the first warrior of the day, a man 
great in capacity as in moral worth. Sir Simon the 
Eighteous was the name by which he was popularly 
known. Under his guidance a parliament was held at 
Oxford in 1258, where the barons appeared in arms. 
By a series of agreements, known as the Provisions 
of Oxford, the government was taken out of the 
hands of the king, and placed in the hands of various 
councils. The arrangement did not last long. The 
barons had it all their own way in the councils, and 
the lesser landowners began to fear that they would 
not get justice from the great ones. EarJ Simon 



FIRST PEEIOD. 69 

would have done justice if he could, but the barons 
were too strong for him. Their folly made them as 
unpopular as the king had been unpopular before, 
and Henry almost regained his old authority, 

7. The Battle of Lewes and the Government of 
Earl Simon. — For some time there was agitation and 
confusion, with no certain superiority on either side. 
The barons were divided between their jealousy of 
the king and their jealousy of Earl Simon. For all 
that, Earl Simon was growing in strength. Some 
years before, the freeholders, or men holding land of 
their own, whether it was much or little, had been 
allowed to choose men to go to parliament to speak 
in their name and to ask for the things which they 
w^anted. These men are called the representatives 
of these who send them, and the representatives of 
the freeholders were like the count ly members of 
"the present day. The towns, too, were increasing in 
commercial prosperity, and in the habit of managing 
their own affairs. The towns, and especially London, 
the greatest of them all, threw themselves on the 
side of the earl. In 1264, he gathered his followers 
together, came clo^vn upon the king at Lewes, in 
Sussex, and utterly defeated him. At the end of the 
day Henry had been made prisoner, and his eldest son 
Edward surrendered himself soon after. For rather 
more than a year Earl Simon ruled England. He sum- 
moned the towns to send representatives for the first 
time to parliament. He wished that people of every 
kind, the great landowners, the clergy, the small land- 
owners, and the townsmen, should all be able to say 
for themselves in parliament w^iat they w^anted. As a 



TO OUTLINE OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

political verse- writer of the day expressed it, the 
community of the realm was to be consulted, and it 
was to be known wliat was thought by tlie nation as a 
whole. This is exactly what England tries to do now, 
Whenever there is a general election, the nation 
chooses men who can go to parliament and say what 
^':he nation itself wishes to have done. Then, after 
that, it is the business of wise men who make up 
what is called the government to find out how it is 
to be done. 

8. The Battle of Evesham and the Death of Earl 
Simon. — Earl Simon meant to rule well ; but once 
more the jealousy of the barons was too strong for 
him. Young Edward, the king's eldest son, was wise 
and able beyond his years, and he watched the spread 
of this jealousy. He resolved to make his escape. 
One day he suggested to his keepers to ride races 
for their amusement as well as his own. When their 
horses were thoroughly tired, he rode off on his 
fresh one, and was soon out of sight. Most of the 
barons flocked to his standard. Earl Simon was at 
Evesham. From the top of the church tower he 
saw the prince approaching. ' Commend your souls 
to Grod,' he said to the faithful few who were around 
him, ' for our bodies are the prince's.' His little army 
was overpowered. The earl was slain and his body 
was shamefully mutilated. After a while all further 
resistance was overcome. The king's authority was 
restored, and up to his death in 1272 no man 
ventured tc raise a hand against him. 



FIEST PERIOD, 



/ 



71 



CHAPTER XI. 

(EDWARD I., 1272.J 

1. The Rule of Edward I. in England. — Henry's son^ 
Edward I., was a very different man from his father. 
He was great enough and wise enough to carry out 
the work which Earl Simon had begun. He allowed 




KING EDWARD I. 



no foreigners to thrust Englishmen out of places of 
authority on the soil of England. He made no 
promises with the intention of breaking them. He 
surrounded himself with the best and wisest coun- 



72 OUTLINE OF ENGLISH HISTOEY. 

sellers that he could find. Wise as his counsellors 
were, he did not trust in them alone. He thought, 
as Earl Simon had thought, that what was intended 
for the good of all should be submitted to the 
counsel of all. He did not for a long time summon 
a parliament in which all classes of men were found ; 
but he summoned just those men who knew any- 
thing about the matter he wanted advice on. In 
this way he became a great lawgiver, because he 
never made a law without hearing what those people 
had to say whom the law principally concerned. In 
his hands England prospered as it had never done 
before. Edward kept the peace well, and in his 
days the barons did not dare either to oppress the 
freeholder and the citizen, or to resist the autho- 
rity of the king. 

2. The Conquest of Wales. — Edward enjoyed the 
sight of a people living peacefully and orderly. He 
fancied that the best thing that could happen to 
people who were not under his rule would be to be 
brought under it. Of all the Britons who were 
found on the south of the Solway Firth, at the 
coming of Hengist and Horsa, those of North Wales 
only still retained their independence under their own 
princes, though even there the princes acknowledged 
the superiority of the English King. Edward re= 
solved to make this superiority felt as a real authg^ 
rity. Two princes in su(?cession resisted the attempt. 
Edward overpowered them, and united the hills 
round Snowdon to his English kingdom. He showed 
his infant son to the Welsh, and offered the child to 
them as their prince. From that time the eldest 



?IKST PERIOD. 



73 



son of the English kings has always borne the title 
of" Prince of Wales. 




3. Edward's Interference in Scotland. — Wales was 
a small country, and its conquest was not very hardo 



74 OUTLINE OF ENGLISH HISTOKY. 

Later in his reign Edward attempted a more diffi- 
cult task. Alexander III., King of Scotland, fell 
with his horse over a high cliff on the coast of 
Fife. He was taken up dead, and his grand-daughter, 
known as the Maid of Norway, was sent for to succeed 
him. The poor child died before she reached Scot- 
land, and as there were none but distant relations 
to claim the Crown, it seemed likely that there 
would be a bloody civil war to decide who was to 
wear it. To avoid this the Scots called in Edward 
to act as umpire between the claimants. The two 
chief competitors were John Balliol and Eobert Bruce. 
Edward summoned the leading men of Scotland to 
meet him under the walls of Norham Castle by 
the Tweed. Before he would give his decision he 
asked them a question. Would the future king of 
Scotland accept the king of England as his Lord 
Paramount or superior, and do homage to him, 
and swear to be his man, as John had sworn to the 
pope, and as the dukes of Normandy had sworn to 
the kings of France ? The demand was not alto- 
gether without foundation- In the days of Edward, 
the son of Alfred, the Scots were in fear of the 
Danes, and their king had, as we are told, chosen 
that Edward as their father and lord. They did not 
always behave like very dutiful sons. When they did 
not want anything from England, and when the 
king of England was weak, they gave him no respect or 
obedience. When the king of England was strong, 
the Scots were forced to acknowledge his superiority. 
Henry II. was the last who had enforced the claim, 
Richard I. had abandoned it. The Scots now ac- 



FIEST PEKIOD. 




76 OUTLINE OF ENGLISH HISTOEY. 

knowledged the claim again. Edward declared Johi\ 
Balliol to be the true heir of Alexander. Balliol ac- 
cordingly did homage to Edward, and was crowned 
King of Scotland. 

4. Edward subdues Scotland. — In the time of 
Edward the Elder, the submission of the Scots did 
not bring with it any strong duty of obedience. The 
England of the Edward who now reigned was far 
stronger than the England of those earlier days, and 
Edward I. meant his superiority to be marked by the 
submission of Scotland to the English Courts of Law. 
When men went to law in Scotland, those who lost 
their cause asked that it might be heard again in 
England, and Edward insisted that it should be as 
they asked. The Scots were very angry. They 
declared that- they had never meant anything of the 
kind. Kather than submit they forced Balliol to 
lead them in war against England. Edward was 
wrathful when he heard the news of what he called 
rebellion. He marched to Scotland, overpowered 
Balliol, and deposed him. He left Scotland to be 
ruled by English governors, and he carried off that 
stone on which the Scottish kings had always been 
crowned at Scone, and which now is to be seen under 
the coronation chair of the sovereign of Grreat 
Britain in Westminster Abbey. The fable ran 
that it was the very stone on which Jacob laid his 
head when he saw the angels ascending and descend- 
mg at Bethel. Scotsmen boldly prophesied that 
wherever that stone was found kings of Scottish 
blood would reign. Three centuries later their 
descendants boasted that the prophecy had been 



FIRST PERIOD. 77 

fulfilled in the accession of a Scottish king to the 
throne of England. 

5. Resistance of William Wallace. — Edward 
wished to rule Scotland fairly and justly. But it is 
impossible to rule a nation fairly and justly when it 
is determined not to be ruled at all. Englishmen 
were sent to keep order, and many of them ill-treated 
the Scots. A Scot, named William Wallace, was 
insulted by some of them. He gathered his friends 
and attacked them in return. By-and-by all Scotland 
was in insurrection. Wallace gathered an army and 
brought it to the north end of a narrow bridge near 
Stirling. The English despised him, and began to 
cross over the bridge. When half of them were over, 
Wallace attacked those who had reached the north 
bank before the rest could press over the bridge to 
help them. Wallace gained a complete victory, 
drove the English out of Scotland, crossed the border 
and plundered and burnt English houses in North- 
umberland. Edward and the English were very 
angry. In Scotland Wallace was regarded as a true 
patriot. In England he was held to be no better 
than an infamous robber. Edward again invaded 
Scotland, where Wallace had few except foot soldiers 
to oppose to him, and these he gathered together at 
Falkirk. He formed them in a ring with their pikes 
stretched out before them. Englishmen had by this 
time learnt the use of the bow which had done such 
service to the Normans at Hastings. They boasted 
that an Englishman's cloth-yard shaft was longer, 
and his bow stronger, than that of any other nation. 
On every village green the small landowner learnt 



78 OUTLINE OF ENOLISH HISTORY. 

to shoot at the butts. About a century later a great 
poet pointed it out as the mark of one of these small 
landowners that ' in his hand he bore a mighty bow.' 
At Falkirk the flight of English arrows cleared a gap 
in the Scottish ranks. The English horsemen dashed 
in ; and the brave Scotsmen died grimly where they 
stood. Before long all further resistance was put 
down. Wallace's rule was at an end. He fled, and 
remained in hiding till he was captured some years 
later. It is said that he was betrayed by a Scot 
named Menteith who gave a signal to the English 
soldiers by turning the loaf on the table with the 
bottom uppermost. For a long time it was held to 
be an insult to any one of the Ucime of Menteith to 
turn a loaf the wrong way in his presence. Wallace 
was taken to London and brutally executed on Tower 
Hill as a traitor. Englishmen and Scotsmen can 
join now in honouring the memory of one who fought 
bravely for his native land. Edward united Scotland 
with England, and directed that Scottish representa- 
tives should take part in the English Parliament. 

6. The Confirmation of the Charters. — The English 
parliament had become, in the midst of the struggle 
with Scotland, what it has ever since been. In 1295 
the first complete parliament met. Either then, or at 
least not long afterwards, the parliament was divided 
into two Houses. The barons with the bishops and 
abbots formed the House of Lords, whilst the men 
chosen by the counties and towns formed the House of 
Commons. Edward found that if he was to expect 
money from parliament for his wars, he must promise 
never to take money without the consent of par- 



FIRST PEEIOD. 79 

liament, and in 1297 he swore to articles known as the 
Confirmation of the Charters, in which he promised to 
levy no more money without a grant from parliament. 
At the same time that Edward was obliged to give way 
to parliament, he found himself strong enough to resist 
the clergy. The pope gave orders that the clergy 
should not pay taxes to kings, who were ooly laymen. 
Edward did not get in a passion as Henry II. had done 
when Becket displeased him, but quietly let the clergy 
know that if they did not pay taxes he should not 
protect them. The consequence was that if a clergy- 
man was robbed the judges refused to punish the 
thief, and the clergy discovered that it was safer for 
them to pay taxes. The clergy after this always 
brought their complaints to the king and the 
parliament, instead of separating themselves from 
them. Every one saw that Edward would do his 
best to do what was just, and the clergy therefore 
did not find as much support in the people as they 
had in the time of Henry II. and Becket. 

7. Rise of Robert Bruce. — Scotland would have 
nothing to do with Edward's government, however 
good it might be. The Scots wanted to manage 
their own affairs without him. The nation found a 
new leader in Eobert Bruce, the grandson of one of 
the competitors at Norham. Bruce was hardy and 
audacious. In the church of Dumfries he stabbed 
Comyn, another of the competitors. ' I doubt,' he 
said, as he rushed from the sacred building, ' I have 
slain the red Comyn.' ' I will make sure,' was the 
reply of one of his followers, who went into the 
church and completed the murder. It was just the 



80 OUTLINE OF ENGLISH HISTOEY. 

sort of thing which would rouse Edward's righteous 
indignation. Before he could reach Scotland, Bruce 
had been crowned at Scone, though the ancient 
stone was no longer there. Edward's troops, how- 
ever, were masters of the country. By his orders, 
the countess of Buchan, who had placed the crow^n 
on Bruce's head, was seized and imprisoned in a cage, 
like a captive bird, high up on the walls of Berwick. 
The Scottish troops were easily routed. The 
Scottish leaders were sent to the block or to the 
gallows. In 1307 Edward set forth in person to 
complete his work by the destruction of Bruce him- 
self. For good or for evil the old man's work was 
done. The noblest of our English kings died in 
Burgh-upon-Sands, near Carlisle, In England he 
had been a wise and firm ruler, striving to give to 
every man his due. His hand had been heavy upon 
Scotland, and by all Scotsmen he was long regarded 
as a bloodthirsty tyrant. Yet even in his dealings 
with Scotland he had meant to do well. 



CHAPTER XII. 

(EDWARD II., 1307. EDWARD III., 1327.) 

1. Edward II. and Eobert Bruce. — There have 
been good kings and bad kings in English history, 
but Edward 11. w^as the only English king who did 
not even try to do in some way the work of a king. 
Edward 11. cared for amusements and jests, and 



FIRST PERIOD. bi 

pleasure . of every kind, but he let public affairs 
alone. He was joking with an unworthy favourite 
named Piers Graveston when he ought to have been 
governing England. For a time the English 
soldiers whom his great father had trained held 




KTNO EDWARD II. 



Scotland down. Bruce fled, through adventure after 
adventure, from one Highland hiding-place to an- 
other. Whenever he saw a chance, he dashed out 
upon the English. But for a long time he was 
always forced to fly after a moment's success. There 

G 



82 OUTLINE OF ENGLISH HISTOEY. 

is a story that, as he lay sleepless on his bed in 
utter despair of success, he watched a spider spring- 
ing forward six times to attach its thread to a wall, 
and failing every time. The seventh time the 
spider succeeded. Bruce determined to try once 
more. This time he was at last successful. Eng= 
land was weakened by Edward's folly. The English 
nobles had risen against him, and when Englishmen 
were quarrelling with one another they had no tim.e 
to oppose Bruce in Scotland. One fortress after 
another was taken, till Stirling alone of all the 
Scottish fortified towns remained in the keeping of 
an English garrison. 

2. Bannockburn.— After this even Edward II. 
could no longer look on carelessly. In 1314 he led 
a mighty army to the help of the garrison in Stirling. 
Bruce met him at Bannockburn close by the town. 
Bruce was as wary as he was bold. ' Well skilled to 
rule the fight,' he dug pits in front of his army, placed 
sharp stakes upright in them, and covered them over 
with turf supported by sticks. The horses of the 
proud English knights galloping over the ground, 
broke through the turf and plunged into the pitSo 
The whole army of Edward was thrown into confu- 
sion. The Scots fought heartily for their native 
country. Suddenly, over the brow of a hill, a 
number of servants appeared, who were mistaken by 
the dispirited English for another army. Edward and 
his brilliant array of nobles and knights turned and 
fled. From that time forward there were many wars 
between England and Scotland ; but Scotland never 
again ran any serious risk of being conquered. 



FIEST PERIOD. 



83 



3. The End of the Reign of Edward II.— For some 
years longer Edward II. remained on xhe throne, 
doing no good to any one. Even his wife joined his 
enemies, and with general assent dethroned him, 
and made his eldest son king as Edward III. Not 
long afterwards Edward II. was brutally murdered; 
at Berkeley Castle. 




KING EDWAPwD III. 



4. Causes of the Hundred Years War. — In the 
reign i>f Edward III. began what is usually known 
as the Hundred Years' War with France, because, 
though it did not continue for all that period without 



G2 



34 OUTLINE OF EN&LISH HISTOEY. 

stopping, fighting stopped very seldom, and then onl;^ 
for a very few years, till a hundred years were 
over. The beginning of the war was caused by two 
things. In the first place, the king of England still 
possessed lands in the part of France called Grascony, 
round Bordeaux, and the king of France coveted a 
country where the people talked French, though it 
had never been subject to any of his family before. 
In the second place, the French king wished to ob- 
tain power in Flanders, the western part of that 
country which is now known as the kingdom of 
Belgium. At that time it was very important to 
England that Flanders should not be in the power 
of the French king. It was full of great manufac- 
turing towns, such as Ghent and Bruges, where wool 
was made into cloth, and as there was no calico made 
then, or cotton goods of any kind, woollen cloth was 
even more wanted in the time of Edward III. than 
it is now% These towns, therefore, were in those 
days very much what Manchester and Leeds are in 
our time. In England there were no such places. 
Nob only were there no great towns, but the country 
was very different from what it is now. There was 
a much larger tract of open land without hedges, 
over w^hich strayed large flocks of sheep, just as they 
do now in Australia ; and many Englishmen lived 
and grew rich by shearing these sheep and sending 
the wool to be made into cloth in Flanders, as the 
Australians now send their wool to be made into 
cloth at Leeds, and the Americans and others send 
cotton to be made into calico at Manchester. 
Englishmen were therefore afraid lest the French 



FIRST PERIOD. 85 

King should conquer these towns, and stop their 
trade with England. 

5. Edward's Claim to the French Throne. — Edward 
however was not content to fight for the trade with 

THE PLANTAGENET KINGS OF ENGLAND, 



Henry II. 
(Sprung bolh from William the Conqueror and from Edmund Ironside.) 

I ! Eleanor, m. K. of Castile. 

Richard /. (1189-1199) John (1199-1216) 1 

I Blanche, m. Lewis of France 



Henry III, (1216-1272) \ 

1 Richard, king of Germany. 



Edward 1. (1272-1307} | 

I Edmund, E. of Lancaster. 

Edward II. (1307-1327) Henry, E. of Lancaster. 

• I I 

EdwardIII.{^y.^-i.l']'j) Henry, D. of Lancaster. 



Edward (Black Prince) Lionel, D. of Clarence. John of Gaunt, whom. Blanche, 

died, 1376. I j 

Richard II. {j.2,n-i299\ Philippa. //^ewry /K (1399-1413). 

I . I 

Roger Mortimer. Henry V. 1413-1422). 

Anne Mortimer. Henry VI. (1422-1461). 

Richard, D. of York. Edward (killed at 
I Tewkesbury), 



Edward IV. (\ifix-xi,Zii. \ 

I I 

j Edward V. (1483). I Richard III. (1483-1485). 

'Elizabeth of York, who mrrricd KichiTa 

Her.ry Tudor. D. of York. 

Flanders. He declared that he was himself the 
lawful king of France, because his mother had been 
the sister of the last king, whilst the king who 
novv^ reigned in France, Philip VI., w^as only the last 
king's cousin. The French said that a woman could 



86 OUTLINE OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

not rule in France ; nor could any man have an^ 
right to rule there through his mother. What they 
really cared about was that they should be ruled by 
a Frenchman, and not by an Englishman. In fact, 
what was good for France was good for England too. 
It could only bring harm to Englishmen that thou- 
sands of them should kill and be killed in order to 
make Frenchmen obey a foreigner. They might 
win battles and be talked of at home ; but they were 
sure to fail in the end. War is sometimes a duty, 
but a war of this kind is wicked and ruinous. If 
Edward had been content to fight for the independ- 
ence of Flanders, he would have been able to have 
ended his war by a peace which would probably 
have lasted a long time. By fighting for the crown 
of France, he engaged in a war which could not 
end till the English were driven out of France. 

6. The Battle of Crecy and the Siege of Calais. — 
Edward's first victory was- in a sea-fight at Sluys, 
where 30,000 Frenchmen were slain or drowned. 
After a little time Edward III. gained a still greater 
victory at Crecy. Just as the English at Senlac 
continued fighting on foot with axes, though the 
Normans had long ago learned to fight on horse= 
back, so the French at Crecy (1346) continued to 
fight on horseback after the English had learned 
to fight on foot with the bow, though the English 
knights and gentlemen still fought on horseback. 
The French indeed had a number of Genoese archers, 
but the French gentlemen on horseback despised 
every one who fought on foot. A shower came on 
and wet the bow-strings of the Grenoese archers, so 



FIKST PERIOD. 87 

that they were not ready to use their weapons. 
Philip VI. called out to his gentlemen to ride in 
amongst these poor Genoese archers and to cut them 
down, as if they were mere useless lumber. The Eng- 
lish bowmen kept their bows in cases till the rain 
was over. They were free men long accustomed to 
shoot strongly and steadily at the mark. Down went 
those gay and gallant French horsemen before the 
pitiless shower of arrows, and the English knights 
charging amongst them completed the victory. The 
King's eldest son, the Black Prince as he was called, 
bore himself nobly on that day, boy as he was. Once 
during the fight some one, who saw him hard pressed, 
called on Edward to send him aid. ' No,' said 
Edward, ' let the boy win his spurs.' The spurs were 
the mark which distinguished the knights from the 
lower ranks, or from those who were only learning 
to fight. Not long after the battle of Crecy, Edward 
besieged Calais. He did not take it for eleven 
months. When there was no longer anything to eat 
in the town, the chief citizens came out to beg for 
mercy, with cords in their hands, to show that they 
were ready to be hanged. The king showed mercy 
to them, but he turned almost every Frenchman out 
of Calais and filled it with Englishmen, so that it 
remained an English town for more than 200 years. 
7. The Battle of Poitiers. — Ten years after the 
Battle of Crecy, the Black Prince won for himself 
another great victory at Poitiers. Philip VI. had 
died, and his son John was by that time king of 
France. He ordered his knights to charge up a lane 
at the end of which was the small army of the Black 



88 OUTLINE OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

Princej but he did not know that on either side of 
the lane there were English archers behind the 
hedges till the arrows began to fly. As the horses 
were struck down, those behind fell over them as 
they lay on the ground in that narrow space. In a 
moment the proud French army was in confusion. 
The Black Prince charged, and the victory was 
complete. King John himself was taken prisoner. 

8. Chivalry. — It was the duty of a knight to fight 
bravely. It was also his duty when the battle was 
over to treat knights and gentlemen with gentleness 
and mercy. The word Chivalry, which means that 
which befits a knight, is still used whenever a man 
who is strong employs his strength to help those who 
are weak, more especially to help and protect a 
woman. After the battle the Prince led John to his 
own tent, and set him down to the dinner provided 
for himself. Then he stood behind his chair and 
waited on him like a servant. Conduct of this kind 
is the best thing of which we hear in those fierce 
days. Unfortunately gentleness was not shown to 
all alike. It was not thought at all necessary to 
treat kindly any one who was not a knight or a 
gentleman. The English used their strength to 
plunder and destroy. Poor French peasants had 
their cottages burnt, their little store of money 
carried off, their vine-trees cut down, their corn 
reaped or trodden under foot. On one occasion, some 
years later, a town named Limoges, in which the 
soldiers had refused to surrender, was given over to 
destruction by the Black Prince himself, and the 
brave warrior, who was usually so gentle, looked 



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FIKST PEEIOD. 89 

calmly on whilst old men and innocent citizens were 
brutally slain. In France a bitter hatred arose against 
the name of Englishman, which has only died out in 
our own time after 500 years have passed away. 

9. Tlie Peace of Bretigny. — Even the better 
Englishmen themselves felt some shame for the 
misery they were causing. Once as their army was 
marching amongst ruined crops and burnt cottages, 
the black clouds gathered thickly. The lightning 
flashed and the thunder pealed. To the English 
it seemed as if the voice of God was heard in con- 
demnation of their wickedness. Edward made peace 
with France. By the Treaty of Bretigny a consider- 
able part of France was to be his, and Frenchmen 
were to pay large sums of money to him. 

10. The Labourers. — No one is ever the better 
for robbery. Englishmen had been in the habit of 
gaining riches by plunder, and money which is got 
without hard work is usually spent far too easily. 
The peace put an end to the chance of robbing 
Frenchmen, but it did not put an end to the 
expensive habits which had come to all sorts of people 
in England. Instead of trying to live more quietly 
and less extravagantly. Englishmen now began to try 
to get as much as they could from their neighbours. 
There was one class of people who suffered much. 
For a long time the land had been cultivated, not by 
labourers who work for a certain sum of money, but 
by serfs, or villeins, as they were then called. These 
villeins were men who had cottages, and lands of 
their own to cultivate. At one time they had not 
been badly off. As there was not much money in 



90 



OUTLINE OF ENGLISH HISTOEY. 



the country, many of them had paid rent not with 
money, but with work. They had done a certain 
number of days' work for their landlord instead of 
giving him a certain number of pounds or shillings. 




KJSflGHT OF GARTER. 



GENTLEMAN. 



CITIZEN, 



For some time, however, most of these villeins had 
paid money instead of working. It was now found 
that the landlords who had come back from France 
tried to make the villeins do more work than they had 
been accustomed to do, and even to make those of 
them do work who had not been obliged to work 
for many years. Besides these villeins there were 



FIRST PERIOD. 91 

in the time of Edward III. a great many free labourers 
who worked for money as they do now. These, 
too, were hardly treated and forced to work very 
hard for very httle pay. 

11. The Black Death. — Whilst the villeins and 
labourers were grumbling, a terrible disease swept 
over England. It was called the Black Death, and 
caused more destruction than any plague which has 
since destroyed men. We cannot tell exactly how 
many died, but it is supposed by some that at least 
one half of the people perished. This fearful death 
brought some hope to the serfs and labourers who 
remained alive. It is true that the rich died as well 
as the poor ; but the land did not die. There w^as 
just as much work to be done as before, just as much 
corn to be reaped or sheep to be shorn, and only hali 
as many reapers or shearers to do it. Instead of a 
master finding more men than he wanted, he could 
not find enough. The labourers naturally asked for 
more money than they had had before, and the 
villeins finding their work was more wanted, were less 
inclined to give as much of it as they had given before. 
The landlords, however, chose members of parliament, 
and the villeins and labourers did not. The land- 
lords, being in Parliament, made there what laws they 
pleased. One of the new laws made by them was 
known as the Statute of Labourers. By it any labouret 
was to be punished who asked for more wages than 
he had had before the Black Death. No wonder the 
labourers were very angry at being cheated in this way. 
A preacher named John Ball went about telling them 
not only that they had a right to as much as the=!r 



92 OUTLINE OF ENGLISH flISTOEY. 

labour was worth, but that there ought to be no more 

landlords. He was always repeating two lines — 

When Adam delved and Eve span 
Who was then a gentleman ? 

till the villeins and labourers were ready to do any- 
thing. 

12. The Last Days of Edward III. — It was not 
only the labourers who were dissatisfied. War with 
France broke out again, and the best leaders of the 
English were now dead. Edward III. lost his senses 
in his old age, and was unable either to fight or 
govern. The Black Prince was in ill-health. There 
was a new French king, Charles V., who was too 
prudent to fight great battles. Step by step the 
English lost most of the land they had in France. 
The English nobles thought it would be a fine thing 
to rob the .clerg}^, as they could no longer rob the 
French ; and the king's second son, called J ohn of 
Gaunt, that is to say, of Grhent, the town in Flanders 
where he had been born, cried out loudly that the 
clergy should have no more power in England, and 
began to turn them out of the offices which they 
held in the government. It seems strange now that 
all the offices in the state should be filled by the 
clergy, and that a bishop should be Lord Treasurer 
to look after the king's money, or Lord Chancel- 
lor to decide lawsuits. But in those days no one 
who was not a clergyman knew enough to do any- 
thing which needed the exercise of a man's brains, 
and there was good sense enough still in England 
to remember this. The Black Prince, sick and 
wasted as he was, appeared in parliament and de^ 



FIEST PEEIOD. 93 

clared against his brother. The Good Parliament, 
as it was called, turned off some of John of Graunt^s 
friends who had been getting money by cheating the 
king and the nation, and put the bishops back into 
office. But the Black Prince did not live long 
enough to do more. When he died, John of Gaunt 
did again as he liked, and soon after Edward III. 
died also. All the conquests of the early part of the 
reign had come to nothing, and Englishmen who had 
set out to rob Frenchmen were trying to rob one 
another. Warlike glory, when it does not come from 
self-defence, or from an attempt to protect the weak 
against the strong, is like the apples which were once 
fabled to grow by the Dead Sea. Outwardly they were 
fair to look Qn, but they turned to dust and ashes m 
the mouth. 



94 



OUTLINE OF ENGLISH HISTOEY. 



CHAPTEE XIII. 

(RICHARD II., 1377.) 




THE KIKG AND HIS COUNCIL. 



1. The Insurrection of the Peasants. — The reign 
of Richard II. brought more trouble. He was the 
son of the Black Prince, and though he was only ten 
years old it was hoped that he would be like his 



FIEST PERIOD. 95 

father when he grew up. At first England was ruled 
by his uncles, and chiefly by John of Graunt. The war 
went on, but every year some French towns were lost, 
and the English armies, instead of bringing home 
spoil from abroad, cost much money. Heavy taxes 
were laid on to pay the expense. If the poor had 
complained before of their hard treatment from the 
rich, they complained much more now. The tax- 
gatherers did not find it easy to collect the money. 
At last one of them went into the house of Wat 
Tyler, a Kentish man, and insulted his daughter. 
Wat Tyler killed the man. Thousands of villeins 
rose in rebellion. They asked that the new taxes 
should be put down, and that there should be no more 
bondage, that is, that no one should be obliged to work 
for his landlord without being paid. But they did 
not ask quietly and firmly. They were angry and 
ignorant, and they did exactly what angry and igno- 
rant men always do. They threw everything into 
confusion. They burnt the rolls of parchment on 
which were written the account of the services which 
they were bound to render to the landlords. They 
murdered the lawyers who had argued against them 
in the law-courts that they were bound to render 
these services. A large body of them, with Wat 
Tyler at their head, at last reached London. Young 
Eichard was only sixteen, but he rode boldly out to 
meet them. He promised to free them from bondagCo 
Those to whom he spoke were satisfied, and many- 
went home. But it is impossible to satisfy a 
whole mob. A yelling crowd rushed through the 
streets of London, seized on the Archbishop of 



96 OUTLINE OF ENGLISH HISTOEY. 

Canterbury, and cut off his head. Others of the 
great lords were put to death in the same way. 
Young Eichard was the only one in the coiu't who 
was not frightened. Wat Tyler was in Smithfield at the 
head of thousands of his followers. The boy-king rode 
up to meet him. Wat Tyler spoke threatening words, 
and Walworth, the Mayor of London, slew him with his 
dagger. At once there was a shout for vengeance. 
Eichard rode boldly forward. ' I am your king. I 
will be your leader,' he said. The peasants had no 
complaint to bring against the boy. They believed 
that he would free them from bondage, as be 
promised once more to do. They went peaceably 
home as the others had done. Eiots, however, and 
disturbances spread through the country. At last 
the gentlemen took heart and attacked the peasants. 
The poor men had no proper arms, no order, no 
knowledge of war. They were slaughtered in thou- 
sands. The king was not allowed to fulfil his 
promises even if he had wished to do so. The 
villeins were thrust back into bondage. They were 
called on to fulfil their task of unpaid work for their 
landlords, and life seemed to them as hopeless as it 
had seemed before. But it was not long before better 
times came. The landlords found out that nothing 
was to be gained by making men work who did not 
want to work, and gradually most of the villeins 
were set free. These freemen who worked willingly 
for pay worked much harder than the villeins had 
done when they had been made to work for nothing. 
2. John Wyclif. — The landlords had their way, 
however, for a little time. They had force on their 



FIRST PEEIOD. 



97 



side. There was one man in England, however, who 
had been for some time trying to teach men that there 
S something better than force. John Wyclif was a 
learned priest. He began by arguing against the 
power of the pope in England. The popes had long 




SHIP, TIME OF lUCIIAKD II. 



ceased to do any good to England, and all that was 
known of them was that they were always asking 
for English money, and trying to help their Italian 
friends by giving them church offices in England. 
In the reign of Edward III. and Richard II. laws 
were made by the English Parliament to stop this. 

H 



98 OUTLINE OF ENGLISH HISTOEY. 

Wyclif argued against the pope in this affair. Then 
he argued against the wealth and power of the clergy. 
Clergymen, he said, ought to preach and visit the 
poor. Unless they did their duty they had no right 
to so much money. Wyclif translated the Bible, and 
sent out a number of men called the Poor Priests 
to explain it to the people. The great poet 
Chaucer, who lived at this time, is thought to have 
had Wyclif in his mind when he described a 
good priest, and told how he taught the doctrine 
of Christ and of his apostles, but followed it first 
himself. By-and-by Wyclif attacked some of the 
doctrines which were then believed in the Church. 
He found people of different kinds to support him. 
In the first place there were those who learnt to 
believe what he taught. These people were called 
Lollards, from a word which means to sing, just as if 
they had been called Psalm-singers. In the second 
place he was supported by great noblemen, who were 
very pleased to hear him say that clergymen ought 
not to have money unless they did their duty. What 
Wyclif meant was that the clergymen ought to do 
their duty. What the great noblemen meant was 
that they ought to take the clergymen's money away 
from them, without trying to make them do their 
duty. For some time Wyclif seemed to be prosper- 
ing. But there were two things against him. 
Printing had not yet been discovered, so that Bibles 
were very expensive, as each copy had to be written 
out, and even if poor people could have afforded to 
buy them, they had never been taught to read. Then 
again, the great gentlemen had been frightened by 



FIEST PEEIOD. 



9ft 



the insurrection of the peasants. They had thought 
it a fine thing to take away the money of the clergy- 
men because they did not do their duty, without 
really caring whether they did their duty or not. 
They had now found out that the peasants could ask 
gentlemen whether they had been doing their duty, 
and whether they really cared for anything except for 
money and enjoyment. The consequence was that 




SOLDIER WITH HAND-GUN, FIFTEENTH CENTURY. 

they did not care to listen any longer to a man like 
Wyclif, and that they began to look upon him as a 
disturber of the peace. He was prevented from 
teaching at Oxford, and forced to go to his parish at 
Lutterworth, where he died not long after. 

3. Richard II. and Ms Uncles. — The rest of the 
reign of Eichard II. was taken up with a long 
struggle for power, between the king on the one 
.L.sFC. "2 



100 OUTLINE OF ENGLISH HISTOEY. 

side, and liis uncles, supported by some of the great 
nobles, on the other. Kichard, when he reached 
manhood, showed that he could sometimes be as 
cool and daring as he had been on the day when he 
faced Wat Tyler and his mob. 'Tell me,' he 
suddenly said to his uncle, the Duke of Gloucesterj 
' how old I am.' ' Your Highness,' was the answer, 
is in your twenty-second year.' 'Then,' said the 
king, 'I am surely of age to manage my own affairs,' 
and he turned his uncles out of the council. But 
he did not know how to use the government when 
he had it. His only idea of being a king was that 
it gave him plenty of money to spend. His uncles 
did not know what to do with power any better than 
he did. Sometimes they were strong enough to seize 
the government, and to put Eichard's chief coun- 
cillors to death. Sometimes he was strong enough 
to seize the government, and to put his chief 
opponents to death. He had one of his uncles, 
the Duke of Gloucester, murdered ; and had another 
great nobleman, the Earl of Arundel, executed. 
He seemed to be completely master of England. 

4. End of the Eeign of Richard II.— At last only 
two of the great noblemen who had been Eichard's 
enemies were left. One of these was Thomas Mow- 
bray, Duke of Norfolk. The other was Henry of 
Bolingbroke, Duke of Hereford, the son of John of 
G-aunt, and in this way Eichard's first cousin. The 
king bad pardoned them, but he was very well 
pleased to hear that they had quarrelled, and that 
they intended to settle the quarrel, as men did w 
those days, by fighting. The fight was to take place 



FIRST PERIOD. 101 

at Coventry, and Eichard was there to see fair plaj^ 
Just as they were going to begin, the king stopped 
the fight and banished them both, Mowbray for life, 
and Bolingbroke for ten years. As they had com- 
mitted no crime proved against them in any court of 
law, this was most unjust. Before long, Eichard 
acted more unjustly still. John of Gaunt died, and 
Eichard took possession of his lands, instead of 
allowing his son, the banished Bolingbroke, to have 
them. Honesty would have been a better policy. 
Every man in England who had any property at 
all, was afraid that if he died his son would be treated 
in the same way. Bolingbroke understood how many 
friends Eichard had made for him by this act of 
injustice. He sailed for England and landed in 
Yorkshire, asking only for his father's lands. Thou- 
sands flocked in to support him, and Eichard was 
deserted. Henry then claimed the crown, and 
Eichard, left without support, was obliged to give it 
up. He was thrown into prison. In those days there 
was but a short step for kings from the prison to 
the grave, and, like his grandfather, Edward II., 
Eichard II. was murdered not long after his de- 
thronement. 



CHAPTEE XIV. 
THE HOUSE OF LANCASTER. 

(henry IV., 1399. HENRY V., 1414. HENRY VI., 1422.) 

1. Henry's Title to the Crown. — Henry IV., as 
Bolingbroke was now called, was the first king of the 



102 



OUTLINE OF ENGLISH HISTOKY. 



Ikmily known as the House of Lancaster, because 
he inherited the duchy of Lancaster from his father, 
John of Graunt. Since the accession of Henry III., 
the custom had established itself, of placing on the 
throne the eldest son of the last king, or, if he died 




HEXRY IV. 



in his father's lifetime, as the Black Prince had done, 
the eldest son of the eldest son. Still, though the 
habit of choosing any one who was thought fit out of 
the royal family had gone out. Englishmen did not 
consider that the government of a country was to be 



FIRST PEEIOD. 103 

looked on as belonging to a king, in the same way that 
a house or a field belonged to a man. They dethroned 
Edward II. and Eichard II. because they governed 
badly. When Edward II. was dethroned, they put his 
eldest son in his place, Eichard II. had no children. 
> There was, however, an heir to the crown, nearer than 
Henry, by right of birth, in Eoger Mortimer, Earl of 
March, who was the grandson of Lionel, Duke of 
Clarence, a son of Edward III., older than John of 
Gaunt. Henry IV. therefore reigned not by right 
of birth, but because parliament had allowed him 
to take the throne, very much as John had reigned. 
For this reason he was obliged to act more accord- 
ing to the wishes of parliament than the kings 
before him had done, because, if he did not, parlia- 
ment might dethrone him as it had dethroned 
Eichard, In many ways this was a good thing. 
The king could no longer do as he pleased, as Eichard 
had done, and could not take away men's money or 
lands or banish them without trial. But parliaments 
are made of men, and three or four hundred men 
can do things as wicked and evil as one man can. 

2. Law made for the Burning of Heretics. — At this 
time the men who made up the parliament were still 
frightened lest there should be another rebellion of 
the peasants. The Lollards were still preaching 
against the doctrines believed by the church, and 
those who disbelieved the doctrines of the church 
were usually the same men who would have tried to 
free the serfs from working for the landlords without 
being paid for their labours, and who would have liked 
to do as much harm to the landlords as they couldo 



104 OUTLINE OF ENGLISH HISTOEY. 

Parliament, therefore, determined to try and put 
down the heretics — as those were called who taught 
a belief which w^as different from that of the church- 
partly because they thought that heresy was doing 
harm, and partly because they were afraid lest the 
heretics should want to take away the property of 
the gentlemen. For the first time in English history, 
a law was made directing that heretics should be burnt 
alive. The bishops and all religious persons were 
convinced that any one who believed what was false in 
religion would suffer everlasting torments, even if he 
made a mistake honestly, and they therefore thought 
that they were doing a charitable thing in burning 
those who taught others to believe that which would 
bring such frightful consequences upon them. 

3. Rebellion against Henry IV. — Henry's reign 
was a troubled one. The great nobles who had done 
much to place him on the throne were not ready to 
obey him, and he had to be always ready to fight in 
order to keep them down. One great house, that of 
the Percies, was particularly dangerous to him. The 
head of that house was the Earl of Northumberland. 
His lands were on the borders which separate 
England from Scotland. It was his business to see 
that no Scottish army and no Scottish band of 
robbers crossed the Tweed, to burn English houses 
and to kill English men. It was therefore necessary 
that he should have many armed men under his 
command, and it was easy to employ these armed 
men against the king. He made friendship with the 
Scots, and some of that nation, together with Owen 
Griendower, a powerful man in Wales, joiutjd him in 



FIEST PEKIOD. 



105 



a rebellion. A great battle was fought at Shrews- 
bury, where Northumberland was defeated, and his 
son Harry Hotspur was killed. Henry had not 
come to an end of his difficulties. Enemy after 
enemy opposed him, and he died a sad and worn- 
out man, after a reign of fourteen years. 




KING RICHARD II. ICSIGHTIXG HENRY OF MONMOUTH IN 
IRELAND, 1399. 

4. Henry of Monmouth, Prince of Wales. — His son, 
Henry of Monmouth, had been knighted by Eichard 
II. before his father became king. He had fought 
bravely at the battle of Shrewsbury. He was full of 
frolic, and there are stories about his wild conduct 



106 



OUTLINE OF ENGLISH HISTOEY. 



when he was amusing himself. It is said that he 
once threatened a judge named Grascoigne, and that 
Grascoigne sent him to prison. The story used to be 
believed that, when Henry became king, he praised 
Gascoigne for doing justice, though he had himself 




JUDGE GASCOIGNE. 



been the sufferer. As however he really dismissed 
Grascoigne as soon as his father died, it is to be feared 
that he did not behave as well as has been supposed. 
5. Henry V. makes War upon France. — The new 
king, Henry V., resolved to free himself from these 



FIRST PEEIOD. 107 

difHculties by imitating Edward III. He thought 
that if a war was begun with the French the nobles 
would follow him instead of rebelling against him. 
He therefore put forward a claim to the crown of 
France. As he was not the eldest descendant of 
Edward III., he had no claim which any law-court 
in the world would have allowed ; but it happened 
that the king of France, Charles VT., was out of his 
mind, and that his nobles were quarrelling with one 
another. He was therefore able to set out with 
more chance of success than Edward III. had had. 
He was himself a good and upright man in other 
matters, and a brave and able general. His army 
was a strong one, and Englishmen, who cared little 
whether the excuse for the war was good or not, were 
burning to revenge themselves upon the French for 
having driven them out of the land in the former war. 
6. Siege of Harfleur and Battle of Agincourt. — 
In 1415 Henry landed, and took Harfleur, after a 
terrible siege. Sickness broke out in his army and 
swept away thousands who did not fear the face 
of an enemy. In spite of this he determined to 
march from Harfleur to Calais with the few men 
who remained to him. At Agincourt his way was 
barred by at least fifty or sixty thousand French- 
men. Henry had at the highest reckoning but 
nine thousand men with him, but he had no fear. 
The battle was fought on October 25, the feast 
of Saint Crispin and Saint Crispian. The night 
before, the vigil of the feast, he overheard some one 
in his camp wishing that a few thousands of the 
stout men who were idle in England had been with 



108 



OUTLINE OF ENGLISH HISTOKY. 



tliera. ' No,' said the king, ' I would not have one 

man more.' These words of his have been put into 

poetry by Shakspere : — 

No, my fair cousin : 
If we are marked to die, we are enough 
To do our country loss ; and if to live, 
The fewer men, the greater share of honour. 
God's will ! I pray thee, wish not one man more. 




ARCHERS, FIFTEENTH CENTURY. 

By Jove, I am not covetous for gold. 
Nor care I who doth feed upon my cost ; 

But if it be a sin to covet honour, 

I am the most offending soul alive, 

No, faith, my coz, wish not a man from England. 

God's peace ! I would not lose so great an honoui 



FIRST PERIOD. 109 

As one man more, methinks, would share from me 
For the best hope I have. 0, do not wish one more 

This day is call'd the feast of Crispian : 

He that outlives this day, and conies safe home, 

Will stand a tip- toe when this day is named, 

And rouse him at the name of Crispian. 

He that shall live this day, and see old age, 

Will yearly on the vigil feast his neighbours, 

And say — ' To-morrow is Saint Crispian : ' 

Then will he strip his sleeve, and show his scars. 

Old men forget ; yet all shall be forgot. 

But he'll remember with advantages 

What feats he did that day. Then shall our names, 

Familiar in their mouths as household words, 

Harry the king, Bedford and Exeter, 

Warwick and Talbot, Salisbury and Gloster, 

Be in their flowing cups freshly remembered. 

This story shall the good man teach his son ; 

And Crispin Crispian shall ne'er go by, 

From this day to the ending of the world, 

But we in it shall be remembered : 

We few, we happy few, we band of brothers, 

For he to-day that sheds his blood with me, 

Shall be my brother ; be he ne'er so vile, 

This day shall gentle his condition ; 

And gentlemen in England now a-bed 

Shall think themselves accurs'd they were not here ; 

And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks 

That fought with us upon Saint Crispin's day. ' 

The battle of the next day was Crecy over again„ 
The French horsemen, splendid in their bright armour 
and their gorgeous array, charged down upon the 
little English host. The ground was wet with rain, 
and the horses laboured heavily in the deep mud till 
they could move forward no longer. All the while 

1 The quotation had better be omitted if the class is not suffi< 
oicutly advanced to understand it. 



110 OUTLINE OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

the English bowmen poured thek arrows, their 
cloth-yard shafts, amongst them, and the English 
horsemen broke in amongst them to finish their 
defeat. The ground was strewed with eleven thou- 
sand slain Frenchmen, amongst whom were the 
noblest of the great men of France. 

7. The Siege of Rouen. — For the moment there 
was little to be done. The English army had been 
large enough to win a victory, but it was not large 
enough to conquer France. Henry returned to 
England. Two years later he came back to France. 
He took town after town. There was a long siege 
of Eouen. The townsmen were short of food, and in 
order that they might have all the food that was left 
for themselves they thrust out of their gates twelve 
thousand men, women, and children, who had come 
in for shelter from the country round. Henry 
cruelly refused to let them pass. Day by day 
starvation carried off its wretched victims. Inside 
the town the misery was almost as great. At last 
the townspeople were driven by mere famine to sur- 
render, and Henry had gained possession of a town 
the inhabitants of which hated him and his English, 

8. The last Years of Henry V. — Henry cared not 
whether he was hated or not. The strong, brave, 
cruel man went on his victorious course, little 
thinking that hi^^ evil deeds were preparing evil, if 
not for" himself, fox* his children after him. Conquest 
was easy enough. The mad French king could 
neither command an army nor rule a state. The 
French nobles were quarrelling with one another as 
bitterly as ever. Some years before the most power- 



FIRST PERIOD. Ill 

ful of thenij the French king's cousin, the Duke of 
Burgundy, had murdered the king's brother, the 
Duke of Orleans. Now the friends of the Duke of 
Orleans murdered the Duke of Burgundy, and the 
young prince, the eldest son of the king, looked on 
with approval whilst the deed was being done. The 
new Duke of Burgundy joined Henry, in order that 
he might take revenge for his father's murder. This 
gave Henry great advantage, and before long a treaty 
was signed by which Henry and his successors were to 
be kings of France as soon as King Charles died. 
It was also agreed that Henry should marry the 
French king's daughter Catharine. Not long after- 
wards Henry died, and Charles soon followed him to 
the grave. 

9. The English Rule in France. — The heir to all 
this bloodshed and glory was an infant, Henry VI. of 
England, The baby was crowned King of France in 
Paris, and a great part of France submitted because 
it could not help it. His uncle, the Duke of Bedford, 
a brave and able man, the brother of the late king, 
ruled the north of France in the name of his 
infant nephew. To the south of the Loire king 
Charles's son, known as Charles VII., was obeyed. The 
English however were winning town after town. At 
last they besieged Orleans. If that were taken 
Charles would hardly be able to resist much longer. 
The English believed that they would soon have 
everything their own way. Happily violence cannot 
last for ever. Armies might march backwards and 
forwards amidst blood and corpses for a time, as if to 
spread death and ruin amongst those w^hose only wish 



112 OUTLINE OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

is to be at peace were the only object worth living for. 
The time was now coming when this blood should be 
required at their hands. The England of Henry V., 
like the England of Edward III., had been very strong 
because it was better governed, and because men 
lived better and happier lives in it than elsewhere in 
Europe. But it had used its strength to oppress and 
not to help other nations. Therefore it was hated 
with a bitter hatred, a hatred which would make even 
the divided French strong to resist. They waited 
but for a word to rouse them against their tyrants. 

10. Joan Dare. — The word came, as it always 
does, when it was little looked for. Far away in 
Lorraine there was a young peasant girl, Joan 
Dare, known usually in England, by a curious mis- 
take, as Joan of Arc. She was pure and simple, and 
utterly without learning. But she had a warm 
heart of pity, and as she saw around her the 
trampling of the English horsemen over the corn- 
fields, and heard the tales of woe and agony which 
reached her from every side, her soft woman's breast 
was melted in pity for the realm of France. The 
words of hope which rose within her seemed as 
though they came from without. She fancied that 
she heard angels' voices bidding her deliver her 
native land, and telling her to go forth and not to 
rest till Orleans was saved from the English, and till 
Charles was crowned at Eheims, and anointed with 
the holy oil which, as was then believed, had come 
down from heaven. ' I must go to the king,' she 
said. ' even if I wear my limbs to my very knees, 
I had far rather rest and spin by my mother's side^ 



rJUST PERIOD. 113 

for this is no work of my choosing, but I must go 
and do it, for my Lord wills it.' Her father and her 
friends tried in vain to hinder her. At last she per- 
suaded a passing knight to take her to the king. 
' My name,' she said, when she was brought before 
him, ' is Joan the Maid. The Heavenly King sends 
me to tell you that you shall be anointed and crowned 
in the city of Eheims, and you shall be lieutenant of 
the Heavenly King, who is King of France.' Charles 
had by this time lost all hope of gaining a victory 
by human means, and he let her do as she wished. A 
suit of armour was made for her, and she mounted 
her horse astride like a man, with a banner in her 
hand. The rude soldiers believed that she was 
indeed sent from heaven. They followed her 
where they would follow no one else. At her 
bidding they burst through the English army before 
Orleans, and entered the town in triumph. 

11. Capture and Death of Joan. — From that mo- 
ment the English lost all chance of conquering 
France. The French had hope again, and hope 
gave them the courage which they had lost. The 
Maid marched to Eheims. There, in her presence, 
Charles received the crown of France. The Maid 
had done her work, and w^ould gladly have gone 
back to her home ; but the French soldiers did not 
think that they could conquer without her, and 
persuaded her to stay. A baser feeling sprang up 
in the minds of the commanders. They did not like 
to hear all the praise given to the Maid and none to 
themselves. They left her in the midst of a fight 



114 OUTLINE OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

to be taken prisoner. The English who took her 
treated her shamefully. If the French soldiers 
believed her to be a saint, the English soldiers 
believed her to be a witch, who had defeated them 
with the help of the devil. They carried her to 
Eouen, and accused her of being a heretic, because r 
she said that the voices w^hich had bidden her go 
forth were sent by Grod. She was condemned to be 
burnt alive. She died declaring that the voices 
were from Grod. The last word which she spoke 
amidst the flame^ was ' Jesus.' An English soldier 
who was looking on was struck with terror. ' We 
are lost ! ' he cried. ' We have burnt a saint ! ' 

12. The Loss of France. — The English cause was 
indeed lost. They had no longer to fight only 
against the gay French nobles, but against the 
whole French people. The Maid had been a pea- 
sant girl, and the French people, who had been first 
in her thoughts, rose as one man against its op- 
pressors. She had had, as she so often said, pity 
upon the realm of France. In thirty-one years 
after the death of Henry V. Calais was the only 
spot in France left to the English king. 

13. Weakness of Henry VI. — The English king 
was Henry VI. G-entle and pious, but without 
strength or wisdom, he could not even keep England 
in order, far less recover France. His subjects were 
yn. that temper which usually makes people who 
have done wrong blame every one except themselves. 
They were displeased when the king married a 
French wife, Margaret of Anjou, and made peace 
with France. They were more rightly displeased 



FIEST PEEIOD. 



115 



when Henry, not knowing how to govern, let the 
affairs of the kingdom be managed by men who used 
their power to enrich themselves. One of these 
men, the Duke of Suffolk, was particularly hated. 
He was accused of all sorts of crimes and banished. 
As he was leaving England he was dragged out of 




KNIGHT. LADY, AND fHTI.D, TIHIE OF IIEXItY VI. 

the ship in which he was, and murdered. As in the 
time of Eichard II., the men of Kent were the first 
to rise. Putting Jack Cade at their head they 
marched to London. Happily, during the years 
which had passed since Wat Tyler's rebellion, the 
peasants had ceased to be serfs. They were now 
free men, and there was no longer any complaint 



116 OUTLINE OF ENGLISH HISTOEY. 

about bondage. Cade reached London, but his men 
took to robbing, and he was himself soon after killed. 
14. The Wars of the Roses. — Men who wanted 
better government looked to one of the king's 
kinsmen, the Duke of York, to help them. He was 
descended from that Mortimer who came from 
Lionel, the son of Edward III., who was older than 
John of Graunt, the king's great-grandfather. No- 
body, however, at first wanted to make the Duke of 
Y'ork king. They merely wanted him to govern 
instead of the king's favourites. Before anything 
could be done the king went mad, and the lords in 
parliament named the Duke of York Protector, or, 
as we should say, Kegent. If Henry had remained 
mad for the rest of his life, the Duke of Y^ork might 
have gone on ruling in his name. Unfortunately 
Henry was sometimes mad and sometimes sane, and 
he was not much wiser when he was sane than when 
he was mad. The first time he was better he drove 
the Duke of York away from his presence. A war 
began, which is known as the Wars of the Eoses, 
because the House of Lancaster had a red rose for 
its badge or mark, and the House of York a white 
one. There were many battles fought. Sometimes 
one side won and sometimes the other. At last the 
Duke of Y'ork claimed to be king by right of birth. 
. The queen was terribly angry, as this would take 
away the right of her only son. At a great battle 
at Wakefield the Duke of York was defeated and 
slain. The queen had his head cut off and put over 
the gate of York, with a paper crown placed in 
mockery upon it. He soon found an avenger in 



FIEST PEEIOD. 



117 



his eldest son, Edward. The king's party was 
defeated in a bloody battle at Towton, and Edward 
became king as Edward IV. 



CHAPTER XV. 
THE HOUSE OF YORK. 

(EDWARD IV., 1461. EDWARD V., 1483, RICHARD III., 1483.^ 




jfe*'-^ 



SHIP, FIFTEENTH CENTURY. 



lo Edward IV. and the Barons. — Edward IV. 
claimed the throne because he was the heir of an 
older son of Edward III. than the great-grandfather 



118 OUTLINE OF ENGLISH HISTOEY. 

of Henry VI. had been; but he had had other things 
besides his birth to help him. In the first place 
he was a much better soldier than any one who 
was on the Lancastrian side. In the second place^ 
a very great number of people who did not care 
whether the king were of one family or another, 
cared very much to have a king who could really 
govern and keep order. We are so used to see order 
kept that it is hard for us to understand how diffi- 
cult it was to do it in the time of the Wars of the 
Eoses. A few policemen are quite enough to keep 
many thousands of people peaceable, because only a 
very few people now think of making a disturbance 
if they do not get what they want at once. Nobody 
now is armed as a soldier unless he wears the 
queen's uniform, and is ready to obey the orders 
of the officers set over him by the queen. In the 
time of Henry VI. the great lords had a large 
number of armed followers, who were usually ready 
to do anything that their lords told them to doo 
Whenever there was going to be any fighting the 
lords gave out liveries, as - they were called, which 
were what we should call soldiers' uniforms. The 
w^ord livery means something delivered, and these 
liveries were coats delivered to the followers with 
the lord's particular mark. Coats of this kind are 
still worn by footmen and coachmen, and do not do 
anybody any harm. Then, when two or three 
thousand coats were seen about with the bear and 
ragged staff worked on the front, people knew that 
the great Earl of Warwick, who had done so much 
to help Edward lY. to the throne that he was known 



FIK-T PEEIOD. 119 

as the King-maker, was going to fight somebody. 
When they saw men with a particular kind of knot 
worked on their breasts, they knew that the Earl of 
Buckingham was going to fight somebody. Each 
great lord thus had a little army of his own to dispose 
of, and was always ready to employ it. Peaceable 
persons, therefore, wished very much to have a king 
strong enough to put down all these little armies, 
and they thought that a king like Edward, who could 
win the battle of Towton, was much more likely to 
be able to put them down than a king like Henry VI. 
who was usually out of his mind. 

2. The Barons and the Middle Classes. — If these 
great lords had contented themselves with marching 
about and fighting one another it would have been 
bad enough. What was worse than this was that 
they used their men to hurt innocent people. A man 
who had displeased a great lord w^as pretty sure to 
meet a band of ruffians. He would then be beaten 
or wounded, and he would be very lucky if he was 
not actually killed. If a great man coveted a house 
belonging to some one else, he sent to take it. A 
certain John Paston, for instance, lived in Norfolk. 
One day when he was in London his wife looked out 
of a window and saw about a thousand men in 
armour, with guns and bows. They brought with 
them ladders and long poles with hooks at the end, 
to pull the house down, and pans with burning coals 
to set fire to it if they could not pull it down. They 
set to work first to break down the supports of the 
room in which the lady was. They then made their 
way into the house, dragged the lady out by force, 



120 OUTLINE OF ENGLISH HISTOEY. 

broke open all the doors, and carried off everything 
they could find. These men were not common 
robbers. They were sent by a lord who unjustly 
claimed the house as his own. Many years after- 
wards the son of this Paston was treated in much 
the same way. His wife was left at his house 
ttear Norwich, whilst he was away on business. 
This time the attack was made by a duke. He 
sent a little army to get for him what he wanted. 
The lady stood a siege, but was at last obliged to 
let the duke's men in. They destroyed the house 
entirely, carrying off even the iron-work. To this 
day the ruins of the house are to be seen, to remind 
us what sort of things lords and dukes could do at 
the time of the Wars of the Koses. 

3. Difficulties in tlie way of getting Justice. — The 
strangest thing is that all these things were done 
while the courts of law sat as usual. Judges went 
round to hold the assizes, and juries gave verdicts 
just as they do now. We think it a very excellent 
thing that nobody can be punished unless twelve 
"':ien, who make up a jury, agree in thinking that he 
has really done what he is accused of But that is 
because we know that, though the twelve men may 
sometimes make mistakes, they will at least try 
honestly to say what they really think. In the days 
of the Wars of the Eoses they did not try honestly 
to speak the truth. They were very often chosen to 
be jurymen because they were friends or dependants 
of the great landowner of the neighbourhood. If 
they had to try one of the great man's friends they 
would say that he was mnocent, whether he were so 



FIRST PERIOD. 



121 



or not. If they had to try one of the great man's 
enemies, they would say that he was guilty, whether 
he were so or not. Even if the jurymen wished to 
say what was true, they were often a^fraid to do so. 
A juryman who set himself against the wishes of the 




NOBLEMAN IN ARMOUR, WITH MANTI E OF THE GARTER: 
FIFTEENTH CENTURY. 

great man would probably be waylaid on the way 
home and soundly beaten. 

4. Growing Power of the King. — It is easy to 
understand why Edward was popular. The gentle* 
men with small estates, the farmers and husbandmen, 
the shopkeepers of the towns, all wanted a king who 



122 OUTLINE OF ENGLISH HISTOEY. 

could keep order. They did not care much whether 
Parliament met often or not, because the lords who 
ill treated them at home were very powerful in Par- 
liament. From the time of Edward IV. , therefore, 
the kings began to be much stronger than they had 
been for a long time. A writer living about a century 
before this tells a story which will help us to under- 
stand the feeling of the people. He says that the 
mice met one day in council to determine what wa? 
to be done to kill the cat, in order that they might 
live in safety. One little mouse, however, told them 
that they were very foolish to wish to kill the cat. 
He said that he could not deny that the cat ate a good 
many mice, but she also destroyed a good many rats. If 
the rats were allowed to multiply, they would kill many 
more mice the.n one cat did. A kiug Hke Edward IV. 
was like the cat. The nobles were like the rats. The 
mass of the people were like the mice. They sup- 
ported him because he kept the nobles in order, 

6. Edward's Deposition and Restoration. — After ten 
years Edward forgot that he had need to be always 
on the watch to keep his power. He offended the 
Earl of Warwick, the King-maker, who, great noble 
as he was, had helped him to the throne. Warwick 
was the most powerful of the nobles. In the kitchen 
of his house at Kenilworth a huge caldron was 
always on the fire. Any one who pleased might come 
in and stick his fork into one of the pieces of meat 
boiling in it, and carry it off. The men who were 
thus fed at his expense were always ready to fight 
for him. He now took Henry VT. out of prison, and 
made him king again. Edward iied across the sea. 



FIEST PERIOD. 123 

Queen Margaret came back to take her poor mad 
husband's part, and even the Duke of Clarence, 
Edward's next brother, joined Warwick and married 
his daughter. Edward, however, was not a man Hghtly 
to abandon hope. He was soon back again in 
England with an army. At Barnet a battle was 
fought which settled Edward on the throne. Clarence 
basely deserted the side he had chosen, and returned 
to his brother. Warwick was killed, Edward marched 
westward to Tewkesbury, and utterly defeated Mar- 
garet. After the battle was over, another Edward, 
the young son of Henry and Margaret, wa's brutally 
murdered. Not long afterwards Henry VI. died in the 
Tower, no doubt also murdered. In that long fierce 
struggle for power, justice and mercy were forgotten. 
Men said afterwards that these murders were com- 
mitted by Edward's youngest brother, Kichard, Duke 
of G-loucester, and it is very probable, though it is 
not quite certain, that what they said was true. 

6. The Benevolences and the Printing Press. — For 
the rest of his life Edward reigned in peace. At 
least there was no more fighting. He ventured to 
do things which no king had done before. When he 
wanted money, instead of asking parhament for it, he 
made the rich men give him what he called a bene- 
volence, because they were supposed to give itwillingly, 
though, in reality, they were afraid to refuse. Once he 
asked a ricli old lady for ten pounds. She told him 
that as he was so good looking he should have twenty. 
He gave the old woman a kiss, and she then told him 
that she would give him forty. It was not often that 
money was given him with such good will as this. 



124 OUTLINE OF ENGLISH HISTOEY. 

There was plenty of grumbling, but few wished to 
resist the king, lest they shoukl have the old misery 
back again. In this reign one novelty appeared which 
was of far greater importance than all the victories 
and defeats of the Wars of the Koses. The art of 
printing had been invented on the Continent, and 
Caxton brought it into England. He set up the first 
printing-press at Westminster. The king and his 
courtiers came to wonder and applaud. They looked 
on as men look who watch a pretty toy. They little 
thought that they were watching the birth of a 
power which w^ould be stronger than kings and parlia- 
ments together. 

7. The End of the Reign of Edward IV. — Edward, 
even in his triumph, was not without his troubles. 
Victory had set the crown on his head, and others 
began to look on the crown simply as a great prize, 
which might be won by fighting for it. His brother 
Clarence, who had first helped Warwick against 
Edward, and then Edward against Warwick, fancied, 
or was believed to fancy, that he might gain the 
crown for himself. He was imprisoned in the Tower, 
and there put to death. No one really knows how it 
was done, but it was afterwards reported that he was 
drowned in a cask of wine. Edward must have felt 
himself more lonely in the world than ever. He knew 
that many of the great nobles hated him, and now his 
own brother had turned against him. He had tried 
pleasure in all its forms, and had lived a gay, dissolute 
life. Such a life, as is always the case, had been 
sweet to the taste at first, but in the end it was 
bitter as wormwood. Worn out in body and mind. 



FIKST PERIOD. 125 

lie became sad and dispirited. At last he died, a 
worn-out "but not an old man, 

8. Edward V. and the Duke of Grloucester. — 
When Edward IV. died he left behind him two 
young sons, Edward and Kichard, and several 
daughters, the eldest of which was named Elizabeth. 
His widow, the mother of the children, was Eliza- 
beth Woodville, whom he had married, though she 
was not of any great family. He had shown much 
favour to her relations, and the great nobles who had 
taken his side were not well pleased to see men 
whom they despised honoured by the king. After 
Edward's death there were many who wanted 
to prevent the queen and her relations from having 
any power. At the head of these was the late 
king's brother, Eichard, Duke of Grloucester. One 
of his shoulders was higher than the other, and his 
left arm was shrunk and withered ; but he was, in 
other respects, a handsome man, as his brother had 
been. He was brave and warlike, a good captain, 
and a man who was much loved by those amongst 
whom he lived, as long as they did not try to do 
him any harm. But he had no mercy or pity for 
any one who tried to pre\^ent him from doing any- 
thing that he wanted to do. Men in those unhappy 
days had grown used to cruelty and murder, and 
Richard thought no more of killing those who stood 
in his way than he would have thought of killing 
flies. Probably he had had to do with killing 
Edward, the son of Henry VI., and Henry VI. 
himself. Probably, too, he had had to do with 
putting his brother Clarence to death. When he 



126 OUTLINE OF ENGLISH HISTOEY. 

heard that his brother Edward was dead, his first 
thought was to get the young princes out of the 
hands of their mother and her relations. He took 
with him his friend, the Duke of Buckingham, and 
met the little King Edward V. as he was coming to 
London accompanied by his mother's brother, Lord 
Rivers, and by one of his half-brothers. He carried 
the boy with him and ordered that the other two 
should be imprisoned. Not long afterwards he had 
the two prisoners beheaded without any trial at all. 
Richard, when he arrived in London, was named 
Protector, to rule in his nephew's name till he 
became a man. 

9. The Duke of Gloucester, Protector. — The queen 
was frightened. She had with her her second son, 
Richard, Duke of York, and she fled with him to 
the Sanctuary at Westminster — a place in which 
criminals were allowed to take refuge, and from 
which they might not be taken against their will. 
One of Richard's greatest supporters had been Lord 
Hastings. Hastings was now tired of supporting 
him any longer, and Richard determined to get rid 
of him. One morning the Protector appeared in the 
Council. ' My lord,' he said to the Bishop of Ely, 
'you have good strawberries in your garden at 
Holborn ; I pray you let us have a mess of them.^ 
He seemed to be in good humour. After a time he ^ 
went out, and came back looking sullen and angry 
He asked what punishment those deserved who con- 
trived his death. Hastings answered -that they 
deserved to die. Richard laid bare his withered 
arm. ' That sorceress, my brother's wife,' he said, 



FIEST PEEIOD. 127 

^ and others with her, see how they have wasted my 
body by their sorcery and witchcraft.' Those pre- 
sent knew that his arm had always been as it was, 
and were much surprised. Yet they did not dare 
to say what they thought. ' Certainly, my lord,' 
said Hastings, 'if they have done so heinously, 
they are worthy of heinous punishment.' Eichard 
pretended to fly into a rage. ' What ! ' he said ; 
' dost thou answer me with ifs and ands ? I tell 
thee they have done it, and that I will make good 
on thy body, traitor ! ' He struck the table with 
his fist, and Kichard's men, who were standing out- 
side, rushed into the room. He swore that he 
would not dine till Hastings was dead. Hastings 
was dragged out, and his head was cut off at once 
upon a log of timber lying outside. 

10. The Duke of Gloucester becomes King 
Richard III. — Eichard then made the queen give up 
her youngest son. He and his brother, the king, 
were lodged in the Tower of London. The Tower 
was not then a prison, as it afterwards became. It 
was a palace, in which the kings lived when they 
wanted to be in safety from their enemies behind its 
strong walls, whilst when they had no fear they 
lived at Westminster, in the palace which then stood 
where part of the Houses of Parliament stands now. 
Eichard next spread a story which was probably 
true, that the father of the boys had promised to 
marry a lady before he married their mother. In 
those days, if a man promised to marry a woman 
and married somebody else instead, he was not con- 
sidered to be properly married. Eichard therefore 



128 . OUTLINE OF ENGLISH HISTOEY. 

said that Edward IV. had never been properly 
married to the queen, so that his sons could not 
inherit the crown. He summoned a parliament, 
which set aside the young princes, and declared their 
uncle to be King Eichard III. 

11. Murder of the Princes. — Eichard had been 
allowed to place himself on the throne for the same 
reason that Edward IV. had been allowed to make 
himself king. The great mass of Englishmen 
wanted some one to keep order, and they did not 
think that a child could keep crder any better than 
a madman. But it was impossible that they should 
be very eager to support a man who had been so 
cruel, and it was not long before he did a deed 
which was more cruel than anythmg that he had 
done before. The two boys in the Tower were not 
dangerous as long as they were boys, because they 
were not old enough to govern. But they would 
soon be men, and then every one who had any 
quarrel with Eichard would be sure to take their 
part. Eichard therefore determined that they 
should never grow up to be men. He employed Sir 
James Tyrell to get rid of the boys. Tyrell sent 
two men to do the wicked deed. These men went 
into the room where the children were asleep in bed, 
and smothered them with pillows. For many a 
year no one knew where the bodies of the murdered 
princes were buried. At last, nearly two hundred 
years afterwards, some workmen found at the foot 
of a staircase two skeletons which, from their size, 
must have belonged to boys of the age of the two 
brothers. 



FIRST PERIOD, 129 

12. Richard's Defeat and Death. — Richard soon 
found out that he had lost more than he had gained 
by his cruelty. A king was sure to make enemies 
amongst the great nobles, and they could hope to be 
able to overthrow him now that he had ceased to be 
popular. He disappointed the Duke of Buckingham, 
who had helped him to the Crown, by not giving 
him all the reward that he had promised him. He 
was still strong enough to overpower Buckingham, 
and the Duke was executed at Salisbury. A more 
powerful enemy than Buckingham came next. 
Henry Tudor, Earl of Richmond, was descended 
through his mother from John of Graunt, and though 
no one of the House of Lancaster had any claim 
by right of birth to the throne, he thought that 
Richard's enemies would be sure to support him 
whether he had any right or not. He set out from 
Brittany, where he was then living, and landed in 
Wales with a small force. By his father he was of 
Welsh descent, and he was therefore welcomed by 
the Welsh, One Welshman had sworn to Richard 
that if Henry came he should not land except over 
his body. He meant that he would fight till he 
died rather than allow it, but when Henry appeared 
he could not find it in his heart to resist a man who 
was of a Welsh family ; and in order to keep his pro- 
mise literally, he laid himself down on the beach 
and let Henry step over him. Henry found no more 
resistance than this for some time. He had not a 
large army, but neither had Richard. The two rivals 
met at Bosworth in Leicestershire. Richard had no 
chance of winning, for in the middle of the battle 

K 



laO OUTLINE OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

Lord Stanley with all his men deserted to Henry, 
and the Earl of Northumberland, who had also come 
to fight for Eichard, looked on without fighting at 
ail. Eichard knew that he was lost, and, like a 
brave man as he w^as, he plunged into the midst of 
his enemies, striking out manfully till he was slain. 
Sir William Stanley, Lord Stanley's brother, picked 
up his battered crown and placed it on Henry's 
head. From that day Henry ruled England as 
Henry YII. 



CHAPTEE XYI. 
THE FIRST TUDOE KING. 

(HENRY VII., 1485.) 

1. Beginning of the Reign of Henry VII. — The 

new king was not the kind of man to be very warmly 
loved. He was cold and reserved, never mixing much 
in the amusements of the people. But he knew how 
to keep order, and he had never shocked the feelings 
of his subjects by murdering any one. He was always 
3ady to put down rebellions when they arose, and 
he took good care always to have plenty of money, 
and a large number of cannons. The use of guns in 
war had been increasing for some time. It is said 
that guns were first used at the Battle of Crecy, and 
though this is not quite certain, there is no doubt 
that they were first used about that time. By the 
ime of Henry YII. every king who went to war had 



FIRST PERIOD. 



131 



a number of large guns. In this way, more thpiu in 
any other, the power of the nobles, in all Europe, 




came to be much less than it was. When the best 
way of fighting was on horseback, only those who were 

K 2 



x32 OUTLINE OF ENGLISH HISTORY, 

rich enough to keep good horses and to buy expen- 
sive armour could make good soldiers. We have seen 
how the English showed at Crecy and Agincourt that 
an arrow could go through the air faster than a horse, 
and so could kill a man on horseback before he could 
reach the archer. Any man who had time to prac- 
tise shooting could make a good archer, and the 
nobles could as easily find archers to follow them 
as the king could. But cannons were expensive, 
and not easily to be got, and when once a king 
became master of his kingdom, he would take care 
that no one but himself had any. In this way 
rebellions became more difficult than they had been 
before. 

2. Lambert Simnel and Perkin Warbeck. — In one 
way Henry had taken care to make the friends of th^ 
House of York unwilling to rise against him. Soon 
after he became king he married Elizabeth, the 
daughter of Edward IV. Their children would 
therefore be descended from both Houses. As a 
sign that the two Houses were united, the Tudor 
kings took for their badge a double rose, partly white 
and partly red. Yet Henry could not expect to re- 
main on the throne without having to fight for it. 
Twice in this reign attempts were made to overthrow 
the king. A certain Lambert Simnel pretended to 
be the Earl of Warwick, the son of the Duke of 
Clarence who had been put to death in the Tower, 
and afterwards Perkin Warbeck pretended to be 
Eichard Duke of York, the younger of the two 
murdered princes. Both these impostors were over- 
powered. Henry contented himself with employing 



FIRST PEEIOB, 133 

Simnel, who was but a lad, as a scullion in hiy 
kitchen. Warbeck was older, and had imposed upon 
so many persons that he was more dangerous, and 
was therefore executed. 

3. Henry makes the Nobles obedient. — As Henry 
did not allow the nobles to possess cannons, he did 
not allow them to give out liveries, or, as w^e should 
say, to put their men into uniform. The habit was 
dangerous to the peace of the country, because these 
men in liveries w^ere ready to light for the noblemen 
from whom they received them, as modern soldiers 
are ready to fight for the queen whose uniform they 
wear. There was a law made against these liveries 
in the time of Edward IV., but Edward had not been 
strong enough to see that it was obeyed. Henry took 
care to carry it out. One day he paid a visit to the 
Earl of Oxford, a nobleman who had fought heartily 
for the Lancastrian side, on which Henry was, in the 
Wars of the Eoses. When he left the house the Earl 
drew up a large number of his servants dressed in 
his livery to do honour to the king. ' My Lord,' said 
Henry, ' I thank you for your entertainment, but my 
Attorney must speak to you.' The Attorney-Greneral 
brought the Earl before a court and had him fined 
IO5OOOL It has often been thought hard to have 
had him punished after he had done his best to wel- 
come the king. On the other hand, it was well that 
the king should show that he would not favour 
his own best friends, and that even those who'had 
served him most must be compelled to obey the laws 
w^hich had been made in order that the country 
might be at peace 



134 OUTLINE OF ENGLISH HISTOEY. 

4. Henry VII. gathers Money. — Whether this was 
in Henry's mind or not there can be little doubt that 
he was very glad to get the 10,000^. He loved 
money, not as a miser loves it, in order to please his 
eye with the sight of a heap of gold and silver, but 
because he knew that it made him powerful. At 
the same time he did not like to cause ill-will by 
laying on taxes which the poor would have to pay as 
well as the rich. He thought it wiser to get as much 
as he could from the rich, and whenever any one of 
these had broken any law, even if it was uninten- 
tionally, the king sold him a pardon instead of 
punishing him. Then too he revived the system of 
benevolences which had been invented by Edward 
lY. There is a story told of his chief minister. 
Cardinal Morton, that he used to ask rich citizens for 
money for the king in a way which was known as 
Cardinal Morton's fork, because if he did not hit a 
man with one point of his argument, he did with the 
other. If he heard that the citizen had been living 
with a great show, and had a fine house and many 
servants, he would say to him, ' You spend so much 
money that you are plainly very rich, and can well 
afford to give the king a good sum of money.' If he 
found a man who lived very shabbily, and had a 
small house and few servants, he would say to him, 
' You are very economical, and must have saved a 
great deal, and can well afford to give the king a 
good sum of money.' 

5. The Court of Star Chamber. — Another means 
which Henry adopted to keep down the nobles was by 
setting up the Court of Star Chamber. A hundred and 



FIRST PERIOD. 135 

fifty years later this court became very cruel ; but when 
it was set up by Henry VII. it did much good. The 
nobles oppressed people around them, and prevented 
them from getting justice in the courts when the 
judges came round for the Assizes. Juries would be 
afraid to give honest verdicts for fear of giving offence 
to the noblemen. The Court of Star Chamber wa,« 



CITIL AND MILITARY COSTUME ABOUT 1496. 

~nade up of one of the judges and some of the king's 
officers, who were not the least afraid of any noble- 
man in England. When therefore any conspiracy 
was heard of, or any riot or disturbance, a nobleman 
who took part in it could be brought before this 
court and fined and imprisoned a? easily as if he had 
been a farmer or a blacksmith. 



136 OUTLINE OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

6. Great Power of the King. — Henry VII. thus 
maintained himself on the throne. He gave to the 
English people the great thing that they wanted, 
peace and security. Yet he also gave them what 
ia the long-run is not good for any people, the habit 
of seeing burdens placed on the rich instead of beingj 
placed justly and fairly on all in proportion to their 
means, and the habit of seeing the king do very 
much as he pleased. The fact is that now that the 
nobles were weakened, the people were not ac- 
customed to act together. There were no news- 
papers to tell them what was going on all over the 
country, and those who lived in one county scarcely 
knew anything of what was happening in another. 
They were therefore content to trust the king, and 
this made the king strong enough to do a great deal 
of good. Unfortunately also it made him strong 
enough to do a great deal of harm, and the Enghsh 
people ha.d afterwards to undergo many hardships to 
take away from the descendants of Henry VII. the 
powder which they had allowed him to gain. 



CHAPTEE XVII. 
THE FIRST YEAES OF HENRY VIII. 

(1509-1529.) 

1. Popularity of Henry. — The eldest son of Henry 
VII., Arthur, Prince of Wales, had died in his 
father's lifetime. The next brother succeeded as 



FIEST PERIOD. 



137 



Henry YIII., and married Arthur's widow, Catharine 
of Aragon. For some years he and the new queen 




THE ^ 

BRITISH ISLES 

IN THE 

ZTEEJVTBT CjeXTUnT. 



ijbdrews^ O K T H 
[Berwick 



ZI,oni;W: 



lived happily together. Henry VIII. was thoroughly 
popular. He was strong and active, could leap 



138 OUTLINE OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

further and shoot an arrow nearer the mark than 
any one of his subjects. Bluff King Hal, as he was 
called, had a ready jest and a hearty word for all 
men. For some time he left the management of 
affairs of state to his minister, Cardinal Wolsey, 
But he had a strong will of his own; and when- 
ever he gave himself the trouble to think about 
business, he knew better how to contrive to ^et 
what he wanted than the cleverest man in his 
dominions. 

2. Wars on the Continent. — During the first 
years of his reign Henry took part in wars upon the 
Continent. The kings of France had grown strong 
since those miserable wars with the English had come 
to an end, and Spain, which had before been divided 
into several states, was now^ united into one state. 
During the reign of Henry VIII., Francis I., king of 
France, was almost alw*ays at war with Charles I., 
king of Spain, who was known as Charles V., because 
he was chosen emperor, and ruled over Germany by 
that title. Henry was afraid that one or the other 
would grow too strong, and always took the part of 
the one who happened to be weakest at the time. 
Wars conducted in this way were not likely to do 
good to any one. 

3. Condition of the People. —All this while Henry's 
subjects at home were studying and thinking more 
than they had been able to do during the Wars of 
the Eoses. In England, as in the rest of Europe, 
men read more than they had done for centuries, 
now that printing-presses were at work. Not only 
did they read more, but they read different things 



FIRST PERIOD. 139 

Instead of studyiiag lives of the saints, and religious 
books written by priests and monks, they read the 
old books written by the Greeks and Eomans. 
Instead of thinking how men could best leave their 
fellow-men and pass their time in a monastery to 
prepare for heaven, they bega,n to ask how they 
could best help their fellow-creatures here upon 
earth. There was certainly much need of thinking 
about this. It is true that the poor were no longer 
serfs as they had been in the days of Eichard II., 
but they were very hardly treated. When the king 
went to war, he hired a large number of men to be 
his soldiers, and when he finished his vrar he turned 
them off. They had forgotten how to work, and 
unless they were ready to starve, they must procure 
food in some bad way. They robbed and murdered 
for a livelihood. The cruel laws of those days con- 
demned every thief to be hanged. Thousands were 
put to death in the course of this reign, though the 
robberies and murders went on as before. In some 
respects the punishments made things worse. If a 
man committed a robbery he knew that he would 
be hanged if he were caught, and that he could not 
be more than hanged if he committed a murder. 
He therefore usually murdered the man he had 
robbed, to prevent his living to give evidence against 
him. 

4. The Inclosures. — Another evil came from a 
change in the management of the land. Landlords 
found that they could get more money by selling 
wool than they could by selling corn, and they 
therefore turned a large quantity of land, which 



140 OUTLINE OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

before had been ploughed for corn-land, into pasture-^ 
land on which to keep sheep. In this way a large 
number of men were thrown out of work, because 
one or two shepherds could look after a very large 
flock of sheep, whilst it would take several men to 
cultivate for corn the land on which the sheep were 
feeding. The men thus thrown out of work were 
often driven to live by robbery and murder like the 
discharged soldiery. 

5. The Utopia and the Discovery of America. — It 
was long before remedies were found for these evils. 
One great and wise man, Sir Thomas More, wrote a 
book called ' Utopia,' in which he advised that the 
land should again be sown with corn, and that men 
should be helped to work that they might be kept out 
of temptation to rob, instead of being hanged after 
they had committed crimes. Great improvements 
cannot be made at once, but it was a good sign that 
some men were beginning to think how they could 
be made. As often happens, the way to improve- 
ment comes from something which does not at 
the time seem to have anything to do with it. 
In the reign of Henry VII., Columbus crossed the 
Atlantic Ocean and discovered America. As yet 
England gained no advantage by this. In 1492 
Columbus discovered America for Spain. Scarcely 
any except Spanish ships sailed to the New World. 
Spaniards alone settled there, and carried to their 
own country the stores of gold and silver which were 
dug out of its mines. By-and-by England would 
have its share in the New ^^^orld, and more than its 
share in the trade and commerce which sprung up 



FIRST PERIOD. 



Ml 



from the intercourse between the Old World and the 
New. Men would find that as sailors, merchants, 
or manufacturers, they could find plenty to do which 
was as good as keeping sheep, and a good deal 
better than robbing and murdering. 

6. Beginning of the Reformation. — Whilst some 
men were thinking how the poor could be made 




ANNE BOLEYN. 



THOMAS HOWARD, 
THIRD DUIJ;E NORFOLK. 



CARDINAL ■WOLSBY. 



better and happier, others were thinking about 
religion. Martin Luther taught in Grermany that 
the religion which men had believed for many cen- 
turies was very different from the religion taught in 
the New Testament. After a little time those who 
followed Luther were called Protestants. A few 
people in England thought as Luther taught, but as 



142 OUTLINE OF ENGLISH HLSTOKY. 

yet they were not many. There were many more 
who did not wish to believe otherwise than they had 
believed before, but who thought that there was 
need of some change. Very few monks and nuns 
now lived as well as they had when the monasteries 
were first founded. Most of them were living idle. 
useless lives, and cared very little about more than 
the form of religion. Both they and many of the 
priests were extremely ignorant. Those who are 
idle and ignorant usually become vicious as welL 
Wolsey and the king himself wanted to alter this 
state of things. They thought that by founding 
schools and colleges and by spreading learning the 
clergy would become better. 

7. Henry quarrels with the Pope. — After Henry 
had been married for some time he grew tired of 
his wife, Queen Catharine, and wanted to marry a 
sparkling young beauty named Anne Boleyn. He 
suddenly discovered that he had done wrong in 
marrying his brother's widow, and asked the pope 
to divorce him from Catharine, and to declare that 
he had never been lawfully married to her. The 
pope, Clement VII., could not make up his mind 
what to do. One of the old popes, when the popes 
were really great, would have done what he thought 
right, and would have borne the consequences. 
Clement was not brave enough for this. He was 
afraid to make an enemy of Henry, for fear lest 
Henry should turn Protestant. But he was also 
afraid of offending Catharine's nephew, the Emperor 
Charles, who had a large army in Italy. He there- 
fore tried to put off giving any answer as long 



FIRST PERIOD. 143 

as he possibly could. At last he sent orders to 
Cardinal Wolsey and another cardinal to hear what 
was to be said on both sides as the pope's legates or 
representatives. In 1529 their court was opened at 
Blackfriars. The queen threw herself at Henry's 
feet. Twice he tried in vain to raise her up. In her 
broken English she prayed him to have pity on her. 
She said she was a poor woman and a foreigner. For 
twenty years she had been his true and obedient 
wife. In the end she appealed to the pope him- 
self, and declared that she would make answer to 
the pope only. The legates, however, did not at 
first take any heed to this, but went on with their 
inquiry. After a time, however, they gave out that 
it must be as she asked, and that the trial would 
be finished at Rome. Henry was very angry. He 
knew that the pope would be too much afraid of the 
emperor to decide as he wished. 

8. Fall of Wolsey. — ^^^olsey was the first to 
suffer, as he had been one of the legates. He 
was turned out of office and his goods were taken 
from him on the pretence that he had been unfaith- 
ful to the king. Not long afterwards he was sent 
for to answer to a charge of treason. At Leicester, 
on his way to London, he was taken ill and died. 
' If I had served Grod,' he said, ' as diligently as I 
have served the king, He would not have given me 
over in my grey hairs.' 



144 OUTLINE OF ENGLISH HISTORYo 



CHAPTER XVIII. 
THE LAST PART OF THE REIGN OF 

HENRY VIII. (1529-1547.) 

1. The King's Divorce. — Henry was resolved that 
whether the pope were willing or not, he would be 
divorced from Catharine. He first tried to frighten 
the pope into doing what he wanted. When he 
found that he did not succeed he got the parliament 
to pass laws by which all matters relating to the 
Church were to be settled in England. The king 
then married Anne Boleyn. Thomas Cranmer, who 
perhaps believed that the king's marriage with Catha- 
rine was really unlawful, was made Archbishop of 
Canterbury, and held a court at Dunstable, where he 
pronounced sentence that the king had never been 
lawfully married at all. The King married Anne. 
Catharine refused to accept Cranmer's decision. 
She said that she had always been the king's wife, 
and that she was his wife still, unless the pope de- 
cided against her. ' I would rather,' she said, ' be a 
poor beggar's wife and be sure of heaven, than queen 
of all the world and stand in doubt thereof by reason 
of my own consent.' Henry treated her with con- 
tempt, and openly acknowledged Anne as his wife. 

2. Henry burns the Protestants, and hangs or 
beheads the Catholics. — It was no longer possible for 
Henry even to pretend to be subject in any way to 
the pope. But he had not the least wish to become 
a Protestant, or to change either his religion or the 



ICIEST PEKIOD. 145 

religion of the people. He intended to make people 
more religious in the old way than the pope had 
been able to do. What he wanted was very much 
what most people in England w^anted. Even those 
who thought that Catharine had been hardly treated 
were glad that the country should no longer be 
obliged to submit to the pope, who was an Italian 
foreigner. But they thought that the Church should 
be just as it had always been, and that no one should 
be allowed to teach Protestantism, which they con- 
sidered to be heresy, and to be therefore certain to 
bring those who believed it to hell after they died. 
During the remainder of the reign most people 
were quite satisfied when Henry had people burnt 
alive as heretics for being Protestants, and hung 
others or beheaded them as traitors for saying that 
the pope was superior to the king in matters of 
religion. 

3. Execution of Sir Thomas More. — The noblest 
of those who suffered as traitors was Sir Thomas 
More. He had been the first to think how to make 
the life of poor men and women happier and better. 
His own house was a place adorned with every 
virtue. He brought up his children in a way which 
was very unusual then. Both at that time and long 
afterwards it was generally supposed that the only 
way to drive knowledge into the heads of boys and 
girls was to flog them frequently and severely. 
Luther used to tell how he was once beaten at school 
fifteen times in one day. We hear of a. young lady 
related to the Paston family that ' she hath since 
Easter the most part been beaten once in the week 

L 



146 OUTLINE OF ENGLISH HISTOEY. 

or twice, and sometimes twice in one day, and iiel 
head broken in two or three places.' More knew 
better. ' I have given yon kisses enough,' he wrote 
to his children, ' ' but stripes hardly ever.' As is 
almost always the case, the gentle man was also the 
strong man, resolved to do his duty, and to die 
rather than to say what he believed to be untrue. 
Soon after the king's marriage with Anne Boleyn, 
parliament passed an act of succession, requiring 
all persons, asked by the king to do so, to swear 
that Henry's second marriage w^as lawful, and that 
any children which he and Anne might have would 
be the lawful successors to the Crown. More was 
sent for from Chelsea where he lived to come and 
swear. 'Whereas,' we are told, ^at other times, 
before he parted from his wife and children, they 
used to bring him to his boat, and he there kissing 
them bade them farewell ; at this time he suffered 
none of them to follow him forth of his gate, but 
pulled the wicket after him, and with a heavy heart 
he took boat,' For some minutes he sat silently 
musing. There was a conflict in his mind whether 
he should yield or not. At last he gave a start and 
cried, ' I thank our Lord, the field is won.' He had 
trodden temptation under foot. When he came to 
Lambeth he was asked whether he would swear. 
He replied that he would w^illingly swear to acknow- 
ledge the children of Anne as lawful successors of 
the throne, because he believed that the king, with 
the consent of parliament, could settle this as he 
pleased. But he w^ould not swear that Anne was 
Henry's lawful wife, because he did not believe that 



FIKST PEKIOD. 147 

she was. Upon this answer he was sent a prisoner 
to the Tower. He had not been there long before 
another act of parliament was passed, the Treason 
Act, directing that every one who refused to give the 
king a "title properly belonging to him was to be put 
to death as a traitor. One of these titles was that of 
Supreme Head of the Church of England, and this 
title More thought that he could not honestly give 
to Henry. He was brought to trial and condemned. 
He was carried to execution on Tower Hill. He 
was always fond of a jest, and he was merry and 
fearless to the end. ' See me safe up,' he said, 
when he was asked to mount the scaffold ; ' for my 
coming down I can shift for myself.' After he had 
laid his head on the block he raised it again for an 
instant, and moved his beard away. ' i^ity that 
should be cut,' he said, ' that has not committed 
treason.' The axe descended, and the head of the 
noblest Englishman of Henry's day was severed from 
his body. 

4. The Translation of the Bible. — Far more im- 
portant than anything else that Henry did w^as the 
translation of the Bible which he ordeied. He had 
little idea how great a change he was preparing 
when he gave orders that the Bible should be printed 
in English. He thought that people would learn 
from it to resist the pope, and he did not suspect 
that they were likely to find in it very different things 
from those which he himself believed. He little 
thought that from that book to which he appealed, 
his subjects would learn a higher faith and a purer 
virtue than his, and that they would gain a con- 

L 2 



148 OUTLINE OF ENGLISH HISTOEY. 

fidence which would make them as determined to 
resist kings as they were to resist popes, when 
kin^s or popes ordered them to beheve what they 
thought was untrue, or to do what they though 
was wrong. 

5. The Suppression of the smaller Monasteries.- 
Henry's habit of convincing himself that he wa 
doing something very good when he was really doin^ 
what he wanted to do for some seliish reason, appear 
plainly in his dealing with the monasteries. He 
wanted money sadly. His life was an expensive one, 
and he was fond of gambling. A gambler is alway? 
in want of money, and Henry's case was no exceptioi 
to the rule. He suddenly became convinced that 
the monks and nuns who lived in the smaller 
monasteries were very wicked. Men were sent to 
inquire whether it was so, and they reported that it 
was quite true. Most probably there were many 
monks and nuns who lived very badly. They were 
no longer full of burning zeal to lead a monastic life, 
as they had been some centuries before, and when a 
number of people lead idle lives, they are very likely 
to fall into mischief. But there can be little doubt 
that the report spoke of them as much worse than 
they were. An act of parliament was passed putting 
an end to all monasteries w^hich had less property 
than 200^. a year, and giving all the money to the 
king. 

6. Execution of Anne Boleyn and Death of Jane 
Sejrmour. — Before the seizure of the monasteries 
happened, Henry had an heiress if not an heir to the 
throne. Catharine's only surviving child, Mary, had 



FIEST PEBIOD. 



149 



been declared no lawful daughter of the king's. His 
second wife, Anne, brought him a daughter Elizabeth, 
who was to be more famous than any son could be. 
She was to be nourished in adversity, the best of 
trainings to those who know how to profit by it. Even 
in her cradle, whilst she was but a helpless babe know- 




COSTUMES: TIME OF IIEMIY VIII. 



ing neither good nor evil, the first blow fell upon her. 
Her mother was suddenly accused of the vilest mis- 
conduct to the king her husband. Whether she was 
guilty or innocent cannot now be known. She was 
sentenced to death and beheaded. Her marriage was 
set aside, and Henry at once married a third wife, 
JaPG Seymour. Queen Jane bore him a son who 



150 OUTLINE OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

was afterwards Edward VI., and then died. Henrji 
then for some years remained unmarried. 

7. The Pilgrimage of Grace. — The seizure of the 
smaller monasteries was followed by a rebellion in 
the North. Yorkshire and Lancashire, and Durham 
and Northumberland, are now very rich and very 
full of people, because the discovery of the use of 
the steam-engine brought work to a country in 
which there is plenty of coal. In the time ol 
Henry VIII. this part of England was very poor 
and thinly peopled,. and those who lived there did 
not like changes as much as the richer people in 
the South. The nobles were more popular there 
than in the South. The monasteries were still 
doing some good in helping the poor. The people 
of these parts, therefore, rose to fight against the 
king because he had been making changes. The 
insurrection was called the Pilgrimage of Grrace, and 
the rebels followed a banner on which was worked 
the five wounds of Christ. So hard it was to put 
them down that the king promised to pardon them 
and to hold a parliament in the North to hear what 
they had to say. After a little time a few small 
disturbances took place, and Henry made them an 
excuse for breaking his promise. The leaders of 
the Pilgrimage of Grace were now seized and 
executed. 

8. Destruction of Images. — Sir Thomas More had 
felt sure that if the king tried to settle the affairs of 
the Church he would be sure to make changes. It 
now appeared that More was in the right. Henry 
did not mean to make any changes at all. H© 



FIRST PERIOD. 151 

wanted his people to believe as they had always 
believed. But then he wanted to have their belief 
explained to them so that they should understand 
it better. Just before the Pilgrimage of Grace he 
had sent out such an explanation, and, as might be 
expected, the explanation was not quite the same as 
the pope would have given. The chief alteration, 
however, was in the matter of images. There were 
in all the churches images of saints, and figures of 
Christ upon the cross. Before these the people 
prayed. They were not intended to pray to the 
stone or wooden images, but only to be reminded 
by them of those whom they could not see. Igno- 
rant people had, however, come to think of the 
image itself as something to be prayed to, and which 
could do them good. The king did not wish images 
to be destroyed because prayers were offered before 
them, but he determined to destroy those which 
were said to perform miracles, because he thought 
this was done by trickery. When the tricks were 
found out, they were exhibited to the people and 
the image was burned. It would have been well if 
only images had been burnt. One poor man, Friar 
Forest, was declared to be a heretic because he said 
that the king ought to be subject to the pope. He 
was placed in a cradle of chains hung upon a gallows. 
Underneath were the fragments of a great image 
which had been brought from Wales. Then Latimer, 
a brave honest man, who was afterwards to die a 
martyr's death, preached to him to convince him of 
his error. When the sermon was over he asked 
Forest whether he would live or die. ^ I will dic^' 



15 2 OUTLINE OF ENGLISH HISTOEY. 

said Forest, boldly. 'Do your worst upon me^ 
Seven years ago you durst not, for your life, have 
preached such words as these ; and now, if an angel 
from heaven should come down and teach me any 
other doctrine than that which I learnt as a child I 
would not believe him. Take me; cut me to pieces 
joint from joint. Burn, hang, do what you will, I 
will be true henceforth to my faith.' Light was set 
to the chips of the image beneath. Forest was 
swung over it, and the cruel flames ate his life 
away. 

9. Henry's Tyranny. — Brave men there were on 
every side who were ready to die rather than say 
that the thing was true which they believed to be a 
lie. Since Wolsey's fall Henry had left the manage- 
ment of business in the hands of Thomas Cromwell. 
Cromwell wished to see England free from the pope, 
and to make his master all-powerful. He had no 
mercy nor pity. He covered the land with spies, 
who told him tales of all that was spoken against 
the king. No one could think himself safe. Here- 
tics were burnt, and followers of the pope were 
hung. Nothing planned against him seemed to 
prosper. Noblemen formed plots against him, but 
their plots were detected, and they were brought to 
a traitor's death. One old lady, the Countess of 
Salisbury, refused to kneel down to place her head 
on the block. The executioner had to dash at her 
with his axe, and to cut off her head as she stood. 
It was a cruel time. At court, it was also a time 
when men spent money upon gaiety of every kind. 
Henry wanted money for his amusements, and for 



FIEST PEEIOD. 153 

the amusements of his friends. There was a phrase 
at court, ' a ^ood pennyworth,' which needs explana- 
tion now. It meant that a man had received a large 
slice of abbey lands from the king and had paid 
nothing for it, or next to nothing. After a few 
years the good pennyworths seemed to be coming to 
an end. Then it was found out that the great 
monasteries might be dissolved as well as the small 
ones. Abbots sent in to the king confessions that 
they and all their monks were desperately wicked. 
Those who did so had their reward. At Canterbury 
the chief monks confessed themselves to have been 
guilty of the most abominable crimes. They gave 
up the abbey to the king. The king took the lands 
and gave to these miserable sinners good places as 
dean and canons in the cathedral. No doubt the 
abominable crimes never had any real existence. 
Not all the money thus got went to satisfy the 
greedy courtiers and the gaping gulf of the gambling 
table. Some of it went to found new cathedrals, 
and some to build ships and forts. But a large part 
of it was squandered. 

10. The Six Articles. — Henry had tried hard to 
make people believe as he thought they ought to 
believe. It was every day becoming more impossible. 
The Protestants grew in number, though they were 
still only a few in comparison with the rest of the 
people. Very often they were insolent. One Pro- 
testant went into a church and held up a dog when 
the priest held up the sacrament. Henry tried to 
keep them quiet. A law known as the Statute of 
the Six Articles was passed, ordering the death of 



154 OUTLINE OF ENGLISH HISTOEY. 

those who openly defended Protestant doctrines. 
But it was impossible to prevent men from thinking. 
The kingdom of Heaven is like to a grain of mustard 
seed, which indeed is the least of all seeds, but 
when it is grown it is the greatest among herbs. 
The axe and the stake would not stop the growth of 
the new faith. Henry was popular. He was hearty 
and jovial, and what he wanted was very much what 
most people in England wanted. But those who 
wished to find a religion which might strengthen 
their souls could not pin their faith to Henry. One 
set of men clung to the pope. Another set of men 
read their Bibles, and sent up the prayer of their 
hearts to Christ in heaven, whatever pope or king 
might say. No doubt there were many who called 
themselves Protestants who were not at all what 
they should be, who looked down on their neighbours 
and were quite as ready to be cruel, if they had the 
chance, as the king was. But there were others 
who wer© holy and pure and peaceful. Whatever 
the king might do, they were growing in numbers 
and in power, 

11. The last Years of Henry VIII.— At the time 
of the passing of the Statute of the Six Articles, 
another statute was passed completing the destruc- 
tion of the monasteries. Then Cromwell fell. The 
king thought of marrying again, and Cromwell, who 
wanted to make friends of the German princes, 
advised him to marry a Grerman lady, Anne of Cleves. 
Unluckily for Cromwell, he forgot to consider that 
the king was not likely to be pleased with a wife 
who was not good looking. The new queen was 



FIEST PERIOD. 



155 



plain and stout. Henry easily found an excuse to 
divorce her. Anne of Cleves, unlike Catharine of 
Aragon, took her divorce quietly, and Henry gave 
her a good pension, on which she lived comfortably for 
many years. He was savagely angry with Cromwell. 




ship: time of henry viii. 



As everybody hated Cromwell, the moment that it 
was known that Henry was tired of him he was 
accused of treason. A bill was brought into parlia- 
ment to direct that his head should be cut off. The 
House refused to listen to anything that he might 
have to say in his own defence, and his tyranny 



i.56 OUTLINE OF ENGLISH HlSTOEY. 

ended on the scaffold. Henry had still some years 
to live. He married a fifth wife, Catharine Howard, 
but she, too, lost her head. His sixth wife, Catha- 
rine Parr, actually lived longer than he did. Of 
the last years of Henry's reign there is not much to 
tell. There was a war with France, and a war witli 
Scotland. The Protestants were kept down by the 
Six Articles, but some slight changes took place in 
the services of the Church. The Lord's Prayer, the 
Creed, and the Commandments were translated into 
English, then the Litany was sent forth in English, 
and this was accompanied by other prayers to be 
used in English. The Mass, or service of the Holy 
Sacrament, was still said in Latin. When at last 
the king died, he had prepared the way for a greater 
change. 



CHAPTEE XIX. 
EDWARD VI. AND MARY. 

(EDWARD VI., 1547. MARY, 1553.) 

1. The War in Scotland, and the new Prayer 
Book. — Henry's son, Edward VL, was only a child 
when his father died. The country was governed 
by the young king's uncle, Edward Seymour, Duke 
of Somerset, who was called the Protector. Somer- 
set was not a wise man. He had so many schemes 
in his head that he had no time to do anything 
properly. He went to w^ar with Scotland, in order 



FIRST PERIOD. 



157 



to make the Scots give their young queen Mary 
in marriage to Edward VI. He beat the Scots in 
a battle at Pinkie, near Edinburgh, and burnt and 
destroyed a great number of houses. The Scots 
naturally grew angry, and sent their young queen 




EDWARD VI. 



to France, where she was married to the king's 
eldest son. Somerset had also plenty to do at 
home. He had the images which Henry had left 
pulled down in the churches. In less than two 
years after Henry's death, parliament ordered a new 
Prayer Book in the English language to be read in 
all the churches, and gave permission to clergymen 



158 OUTLINE OF ENGLISH HISTOEY. 

to marry, which had not been allowed before. All 
these changes shocked many people, and there was 
a rebelhon in Devonshire and Cornwall, which was 
only put down with great difficulty. 

2. Seizure of Church. Property. — Somerset was not 
a man likely to gain the confidence of the people. He 
seems really to have wished to do what he thought 
right, but he was also very anxious to make himself 
and his friends rich. Henry VIII. had set the bad 
example of dividing the lands of the monasteries 
amongst the lords whom he favoured. When the 
lands of the monasteries had been divided, the next 
thing was to take what belonged to the churches. 
Somerset was building for himself a great house in 
the Strand in London, which was called Somerset 
House from his name. In order to make room for 
it he pulled down a church and blew up a chapel 
with gunpowder. At the same time, he dug up part 
of a churchyard and carried away the bodies of the 
dead to make room for houses and shops. 

3. Somerset's Fall. — It was not long before the 
Protector had fresh difficulties to meet. The rich 
landowners went on inclosing land to keep sheep on, 
and turning out the people who used to be busy in 
ploughing and sowing for corn. There was great 
ill-feeling, and in Norfolk there was a rebellion 
headed by Ket, a tanner. His followers pulled 
down the palings of the inclosures in all the country 
found. Somerset pitied the men in rebellion, but 
;ie did not know how to help them, though he 
did not like to attack them. The other great men 
who were about him had no pity at all for the poor. 



FIRST PEEIOD. 



159 



They sent soldiers to Norfolk under the command 
of John Dudley, Earl of Warwick, who had no pity, 
and soon put down the rebellion. Then they took 
the protectorate away from Somerset, and not long 
afterwards they accused him of trying to get power 
again. He was convicted and executed. 




EDWARD SEYMOUR, 
DUKE OF SOMERSET. 



CRANMER. 



JOHN DUDLEY, 
DUKE OF NORTHUMBERLAND 



4. Northumberland's Government. — The govern- 
ment fell into the hands of the Earl of Warwick, 
who was soon afterwards made Duke of North- 
umberland. He was a selfish, wicked man. He 
pretended to be very pious and to do all he could 
for the Protestants. A second Prayer Book was 
sent out which was piuch more Protestant than the 



160 OUTLINE OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

one prepared at the beginning of the reign. He 
and his friends phmdered the country. They put 
money into their own pockets which ought to have 
been used to pay the men who had worked for the 
king. Their evil example was widely followed. 
^ The people of this country,' said a preacher at this 
time, ' say that their gentlemen and officers were 
never so full of fair words and ill deeds as now they 
be.' To numbers of men in England Protestantism 
seemed to have brought nothing with it but the 
villainy and rascality which stained the greedy men 
who were in power. Yet even in this evil time the 
new faith was bearing better fruit. Latimer, a bold 
preacher of righteousness, told great lords to their 
faces that they ought not only to be ashamed of 
their wickedness, but that they ought to make resti- 
tution to the poor of all that they had taken from 
them by trickery or violence. In many towns the 
merchants and shopkeepers gave money to found 
schools, which should be open freely to the poor. 

5. Death of Edward VI., and Accession of Mary.— 
Edward VI. was a sickly lad. He died of consump- 
tion before he grew to be a man. Before he died, 
Northumberland persuaded him to leave the crown 
to his cousin, Lady Jane Grrey, who w^as a Protestant. 
He had no more right to leave it to her than Edward 
the Confessor had had to appoint William cf Nor- 
mandy as his successor. The whole people rallied 
round Edward's eldest sister Mary. When North- 
umberland went out to oppose her in the name of 
Queen Jane, his own men threw their caps into the 
air and shouted, ' God save Queen Mary ! ' Mary 



FIRST PERIOD. 



161 



entered London in triumph. Jane was sent to the 
Tower as a prisoner, and Northumberland had his 
head cut off as a traitor. 




LADY JANE GREY 



6. The first Years of Queen Mary. — Mary at once 
put an end to the use of the new English Prayer Book. 
Many more people in England disliked it than liked 
it, and the old service which had been used when the 
English Church obeyed the pope was brought back 
again. But there were many people in England 
who were glad to see the old service, who did not 
wish to submit to the pope. Some of these liked 
Englishmen to settle their own affairs without having 
to give way to any one who, like the pope, was not 

M 



052 OUTLINE OF ENGLISH HISTOEY. 

an Englishman, and did not live in England. Others, 
■who had got fields and houses which had once be- 
longed to the monasteries, were afraid lest if they 
submitted to the pope he would make them give up 
what they had taken. Mary, however, was deter- 
mined that the Church of England should again be 




QUEEN MARY. 



put under the pope, though she knew that she would 
have to wait some time before she could persuade 
parliament to allow it. She made up her mind to 
marry her cousin Philip, who not long afterwards 
became king of Spain, and was the son of the 
emperor Charles V, The marriage was very un- 
popular. There was a rebellion, and though it was 



FIRST PERIOD. 163 

put down, the queen was so afraid of another that 
she had the head of poor innocent Lady Jane Grrey 
cut off, and sent her own sister Elizabeth a prisoner 
to the Tower. Soon after her marriage, the queen 
persuaded the parliament once more to acknow^ledge 
the pope's authority over the Church, and to make a 
law by which heretics who refused to accept his 
belief were to be burnt alive. The members of 
parliament, however, insisted that the lands which 
had been taken from the Church should remain the 
property of those who had possession of them. They 
were more careful about their own possessions than 
about the lives of their fellow-subjects. 

7. The Protestant Martyrs. — Whilst lords and 
gentlemen were thinking more of money and land 
than of religion, there were Protestant martyrs who 
died as bravely for their faith as Sir Thomas More 
had died for his. Rowland Taylor, for instance, a 
Suffolk clergyman, w^as condemned in London to be 
burnt, and was sent down to his own county to die. 
As he left his prison, in the dark early morning, he 
found his wife and his children waiting for him in 
the streets. One of his daughters cried out, ' 0, 
my dear father ! Mother, mother ! here is my 
father led away ! ' There w^ere no gas-lamps burn= 
ing in the streets in those days, and his wife could 
not see him. ' Rowland, Rowland ! ' she called out 
' where art thou ? ' ' Dear wife,' he answered, ^ 1 
am here.' He was allowed to stop for a moment, 
and he knelt down with his family on the stones to 
say the Lord's Prayer. ' Farew^ell, my dear wife,' 
he said, as soon as he had risen from his knees ; ^ be 

M 2 



164 OUTLINE OF ENGLISH HLSTORY. 

of good comfort, for I am quiet in my conscience 
Grod shall stir up a father for my children.' He was 
led away to the village in Suffolk where his voice 
had once been heard in the pulpit. ' Thanked be 
Grod,' he said, when he reached the place where the 
stake rose amidst the faggots which were to burn 
•him, 'I am even at home.' After he was tied to 
''the stake, a wretch threw a faggot at his face. ' 0, 
friend,' he said gently, ^ I have harm enough, what 
needed that ? ' Light was set to the wood, the 
flames blazed up around the suffering body, and Eow- 
land Taylor entered into his rest. Many another, 
as brave and as trustful, shared his fate. Amongst 
them two bishops, the meek Eidley, and Latimer, 
the bold preacher of righteousness, were burnt at 
Oxford. ' Be of good comfort, Master Ridley,' cried 
Latimer from amidst the flames. 'Play the man ; 
we shall this day light such a candle, by Grod's 
grace, in England, as I trust shall never be put out.' 
8. The last Days of Mary. — Latimer spoke truly. 
Cranmer followed him to the stake at Oxford. The 
best and firmest of the Protestants were marked 
out for death. It availed nothing. Men turned 
against a religion which was protected by such 
means. Mary's government was as weak as it was 
harsh. To please her husband, Philip, she joined 
him in a war with France, and the French suddenly 
attacked Calais. She had left the place without 
proper means of defence, and the fortress which had 
been held by England since the days of Edward Til. 
was lost for ever. Not long afterwards Mary died, 
worn out and dispirited. She knew that her sister 



FIEST PERIOD. 165 

Elizabeth would succeed her, and that her sister 
would not burn Protestants. Mary's reign was the 
last in which the authority of the pope over the 
English Church was acknowledged by an English 
parliament. 

CHAPTEK XX. 
THE FIEST YEAES OF ELIZABETH. 

(1558-1580.) 

GENEALOGICAL TABLE OF DESCENDANTS OF 
HENRY VIL 

Henry VII. = Elizabeth of York 



James IV. =Margaret Henry VIII. Mary=Charles Brandon 

of Scotland | I I Duke of Suffolk 



James V. | j | Frances= Henry Grey 

ofSicotland Edward VI. Mary Elizabeth j Duke of Suffolk 

Mary Lord Guilford Dudley = Lady Jane Grey 

Queen of Scots son of Duke of Northumberland 

1. Elizabeth and the Nation. — When Elizabeth 
heard of her sister's death she was sitting under a 
tree in Hatfield Park. ' It is the Lord's doing,' she 
said : ' it is marvellous in our eyes,' She was to be 
Queen of England now, instead of being liable to be 
sent as a prisoner to the Tower, and perhaps to have 
her head cut off at last. Almost all Englishmen 
felt as if they too had been let out of prison. There 
were to be no more men and women burnt ahve, 
nor were Englishmen to be sent abroad to fight for 
the King of Spain any longer. Elizabeth v;as deter- 
mined that in her time foreigners should not meddle 
with the government of England. The King of 



166 OUTLINE OF ENGLISH HISTORY 

Spain and the King of France were both very 
powerful sovereigns, and each of them had large 
armies, whilst Elizabeth had no regular army at alL 
But she knew that as they hated one another more 
than they hated her, the King of France would never 
allow the King of Spain to conquer England, and that 
the King of Spain would never allow the King of 
France to conquer England. She therefore believed 
that she would be quite safe from either of them. 
She made peace with France, and attended to her 
own affairs. 

2. Elizabeth and the Church. — It was more diffi- 
cult for Elizabeth to know what to do about the 
Church. More than half the people would have 
been glad to have been allowed to go on worshipping 
like their fathers, in the way in which Eoman 
Catholics do now. A small number of people would 
have liked the services of the English Church of the 
time of Edward VI. to be revived. A large number 
of people, who came to be called Puritans, would 
have been glad to worship as Protestants did on the 
Continent, very mach in the way in which Dissenters 
do now. Elizabeth was afraid to let either the 
Roman Catholics or the Puritans have their way. 
She wanted to keep the peace, and she was quite 
sure that if either of these had all the churches, 
those who were not allowed to have the churches 
would try to get them by force. She did not think 
of letting both have churches to themselves, as is 
done now. She was afraid lest there should be 
quarrels amongst them, and she therefore wished 
that all men should worship in only one way, and 



FIRST PERIOD. 167 

she hoped that they would learn to be friendly with 
one another, instead of persecuting one another. 
She found that Parliament was ready to agree with 
her in this, and so the Prayer Book which had been 
made at the end of the reign of Edward VI. was 
altered a little, and ordered to be used in all churches. 
No other sort of service was to be permitted any- 
where. The bishops who had placed themselves 
under the Pope in Mary's time were deprived of 
their bishoprics, and new ones were consecrated. 
There was to be no inquiry to find out what men 
believed, or any attempt to punish them for believing 
'either the Eoman Catholic or any other doctrine. But 
the Queen expected that every one should go to church. 
3. The Reformation in Scotland. — Elizabeth had 
a rival in Mary Queen of Scots. Mary was very 
beautiful and very clever. She had been married 
to the King of France. Whilst she was away, 
Scotland was ruled by her mother as Eegent. A 
large number of the Scottish people turned Pro- 
testant, and insisted on putting an end to the 
Roman Catholic worship in Scotland, whilst the 
Scottish nobles wanted to seize the lands of the 
clergy for themselves. The Regent, to prevent this, 
sent for some French soldiers. Elizabeth, who was 
afraid lest, if the French soldiers conquered Scotland, 
they would try to conquer England too, sent an 
army to Scotland, and drove the French out. Soon 
after this the Regent died. Mary's husband died 
about the same time, and she came back as a young 
widow to rule in Scotland. Though she was herself 
a firm Roman Catholic, the Protestants were so many 



J 68 OUTLINE OF ENGLISH HISTOKY. 

that she was obliged to allow her subjects to do as 
they pleased about religion. Elizabeth was not likely 
to be well pleased with having a Eoman Catholic 
queen so near her, and was therefore not displeased 
that the Scottish people differed in their religion 
from their own Queen, as this might make them 
less ready to help her against England. 

4. Mary dueen of Scots in Scotland. — Elizabeth 
was the more afraid of Mary because the Queen of 
Scots was not merely a Eoman Catholic, but claimed 
to have a right to be Queen of England as well as of 
Scotland. She was the granddaughter of the eldest 
sister of Henry VIII. ; and she said thatj as Eliza-' 
beth's mother, Anne Boleyn, had never been properly 
the wife of Henry, Elizabeth had no right to the 
throne. Elizabeth was therefore not sorry to hear 
that Mary before long got into trouble at home. 
She married a foolish cousin of hers named Lord 
Darnley, and one night the house in which Darnley 
was sleeping was blown up with gunpowder. He 
managed to escape, but he was killed in the garden 
as he was running away. It cannot be said with 
certainty whether Mary ordered the murder or not, . 
but almost every one in Scotland thought that she 
did. Her subjects took her prisoner, and shut her 
up in Loch Leven Castle. She managed, however, 
to escape, and found some friends ready to fight for 
her. But she was beaten, and had to fly for her life 
to England. When she arrived there, she sent to 
ask Elizabeth to help her to the throne again. 

5. Mary dueen of Scots in England. — It was not 
very likely that Elizabeth would do that. She was 



FIEST PERIOD. 169 

afraid lest the English Eoman Catholics might rebel 
against herself, and set up Mary for their queen. 
She therefore put Mary in confinement, giving her 
in charge to the owners of one country house after 
another, with directions not to let her escape. 

6. The Eising in the ITorth. — The captivity of 
Mary did not bring peace to Elizabeth. The Pope 
declared the Queen to be a heretic, and ordered her 
subjects to refuse obedience to her. Many of the 
English lords were friendly to Mary. The Duke of 
Norfolk wanted to marry her, and to share her claim 
to the English throne. In the north of England 
most of the people, as well as the lords, were longing 
to see the old religion restored, as in the days of 
Henry VIII. they had longed to see the monasteries 
restored. There was a great rebellion, known as the 
Eising in the North. The rebels trooped into 
Durham Cathedral, tore up the Bible and Prayer 
Book, and found a priest to say mass once more. It 
was the last time that mass was ever said in any one 
of the old cathedrals of England. But the greater 
number of the English Catholics refused to fight 
against Elizabeth. Her troops put down the rebellion 
without difficulty. She was usually merciful ; but 
she was too frightened to be merciful now, and large 
numbers of the rebels were pitilessly hanged. Not 
long afterwards she learned that there was a plot to 
assassinate her, and that there had been some talk 
of sending a Spanish army to England, to put Mary 
in her place. She discovered that Norfolk knew of 
this, and she had Norfolk tried and executed. 

7. Prosperity of the Country. — Englishmen were 



170 OUTLINE OF ENGLISH HISTOKY. 

the more ready to support Elizabeth because the 
oountry was prospering. There was more trade 
than there had ever been before, because Elizabeth 
kept her people at peace with other nations. 
Men learned to farm better than they had done, 
and to manufacture cloth at home instead of buying 
it from abroad. The vessels which carried English 
productions abroad were very small, no larger than 
coasting vessels are now, but they were manned 
with hardy seamen. Almost every one had a share 
in this increase of wealth. Gentlemen decked 
themselves in gorgeous attire, and wore silks and 
velvets of brilliant colours. Other ranks profited 
in a more sensible way. Meat was eaten where salt 
fish had been eaten before, and men were all the 
healthier for it. Houses were built with chimneys 
instead of holes in the roof, to let the smoke out. 
Beds were provided with pillows, which a little time 
before had been used only by sick people. In the 
reign of Henry VII. the great Earl of Northumber- 
land, when he left one of his houses for a time, took 
care to have the glass of the windows taken down 
and packed away, because glass was far too rare and 
precious to be left to the chance of being broken. 
In Elizabeth's time the use of glass was becoming 
common. Even for those who had no money to buy 
glass or pillows something was done. At first col- 
lections of money were made in churches for honest 
people who were too old or too sick to work ; and 
after a time there was a law, known as the Poor Law, 
ordering that each parish should provide for all who 
were ready to work, but could not find work to do 



FIEST PEKIOD. 171 

Nobody was to be allowed to starve, and no one who 
robbed or cheated was to be able to say with truth 
that he could not keep himself alive in any other way. 
8. Ill-feeling against Spain. — All this prosperity 
made Englishmen honour Elizabeth. At the same 
time, they disliked Spain more and more every year. 
Piiilip II., the King of Spain, who had been the 
husband of Queen Mary of England, ruled over many 
countries in Europe, and did all that he could to 
prevent any one in them from becoming a Protestant. 
In the Netherlands he had so many people burnt, 
and he made his subjects pay such heavy taxes, 
that at last some of them rose in rebellion. Phihp 
had large and brave armies, and he did his best to 
put down the rebellion. His soldiers and generals 
were very cruel, and when they took a town they 
massacred the men and women in it. But the 
rebels struggled on, and by-and-by there was a free 
Dutch Eepublic which Philip could not conquer. 
The stories of Philip's cruelty were told in England, 
and set Englishmen against him. Many English- 
men began to think that it was a righteous thing 
to attack a king who did such things, and they were 
not at all sorry that there was plenty to be got by 
attacking him successfully. Besides the countries 
which he governed in Europe, he had many lands in 
America, and in these lands there were rich silver 
mines, from which a large fleet came with silver for 
him every year. English sailors paid little respect 
to Philip. They sailed amongst the West Indialslands, 
which belonged to Spain, and bought and sold though 
he forbade them Many of them sold poor negroeso 



172 OUTLINE OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

whom they had taken prisoners in Africa, without 
thinking that they were doing anything wrong. 
Sometimes they attacked and plundered Spanish 
vessels. Philip whenever he caught them threw 
them into prison, and sometimes had them treated 
very badly, because they were Protestants. Though 
there was no open war against Spain, many English- 
men hated the Spaniards so, that they thought it 
would be doing a good work to carry off some of 
all this wealth to England ; and all English sailors 
believed that it was quite fair to fight the Spaniards 
in America, w^hether there w^as war in Europe or not. 
One of these sailors was Francis Drake. He was born 
in Devonshire, and the De\onshire sailors were bold 
and active men. In 1572 he found his way to the 
New V/orld, landed at Panama, and seized a large 
quantity of silver. Before he returned he caught 
sight of the Pacific, threw himself on his knees,, and 
prayed to God that he might one day sail on that 
sea, where no Englishman had ever sailed before. 

10. Brake's Voyage. — Five years later Drake sailed 
again from Plymouth. He had with him five vessels, 
so small that they were manned by no more than 
1 64 men. When he reached the Straits of Magellan 
he knew no better than to pass through that 
dangerous passage, where the storm-wind blows in 
wild gusts in the windings of the channel. It was 
the only way to the Pacific then known, as it was 
believed that Terra del Fuego was the northern end 
of a great continent reaching to the South Pole. 
When Drake's own vessel, the Pelican, at last entered 
the open sea, it was alone. The other four little 
vessels had either been sunk or had been driven back.- 



FIRST PERIOD. 



173 



Drake was not discouraged. He knew that all Chili 
and Peru was Spanish, and that nobody there was 
expecting him or preparing for defence. He sailed 










into the harbour of Valparaiso, and found there a huge 
Spanish ship. The Spanish sailors did not fancy it 
possible that any English vessel could find its way 
there, and they made ready to feast the men whom 



174 OUTLINE OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

they fancied must be their own countrymen. The 
English sailors sprang on board and seized the ship. 
They found in it wedges of gold weighing 400 lbs., 
which were soon carried to the Pelican. Drake then 
sailed on to Tarapaca. He found piles of silver bars 
upon the quay, and tumbled them into his boats. 
Just as he was going to row away, down came a string of 
llamas to the quay with another load of silver. Much 
more was got as Drake sailed up the coast, silver and 
gold and jewels. At last Drake, having enriched 
himself and his men, went on towards the north. 
He fancied that North America would come to an end 
much sooner than it really does, as no one had made 
discoveries so far north. When he reached California, 
he thought that he had gone far enough, and sailed 
home across the Pacific Ocean and round the Cape of 
Good Hope. He was the first Englishman who had 
ever sailed round the world. The Spaniards called 
him a pirate, and required Elizabeth to deliver him 
up to them or to punish him, but Elizabeth was 
proud of his daring, and knighted him. He was now 
known as Sir Francis Drake. 

11. English Voyages of Discovery. — Even in those 
days of fighting English sailors were not all occupied 
in war and piracy. In the time of Henry VII. a 
Venetian, named Cabot, w^as sent out from England, 
and discovered the coast of Labrador. He was the first 
man to set foot on the Continent of America, though 
Columbus had landed on the West India Islands 
before. In the reign of Henry VIII. the cod ;fisherieg 
of Newfoundland were visited by English sailors. 
But the object on which the hearts of adventurous 



FIB.ST PERIOD. 275 

men was most set was the discovery of a short cut 
to India and China. In Mary's time Sir Hugh 
Willoughby sailed round the North of Norway, 
hoping to reach those wealthy regions in that way, 
but was frozen to death with all the men in his own 
ship, though Chancellor, with one of the other ships 
which had gone with him, reached Archangel, and 
thus opened a trade with Eussia, which at that time 
did not reach either the Baltic or the Black Sea, 
and which could therefore only be communicated 
with through the White Sea. In Elizabeth's time 
many sailors tried to find their way to India and 
China through what they called the North- West 
Passage, which they thought would be found where 
the northern part of the Continent of America really 
is, as no one had been further north than the coast 
of Labrador. Martin Frobisher discovered the strait 
which leads into Hudson's Bay, and fancied that he 
had not only discovered the way to India, but had 
found rich mines of gold. Men were so anxious to 
find gold that they were ready to beheve that it was 
not far off for the oddest reasons. One reason 
which Frobisher's men gave for thinking that they 
would find gold was that they had seen a great 
many spiders ; and they said that ' spiders were 
true signs of great store of gold.' Frobisher found 
no gold ; but he left his name to the strait which he 
had discovered; and a few years later the strait 
which leads into Bafiin's Bay was discovered by 
John Davis, and was named after him. Sir Hum- 
phrey Grilbert, Ealeigh's half-brother, sailed to 
found a colony where the northern part of the 



176 OUTLINE OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

[Jnited States are now. His men quarrelled with 
him and with one another, and he had to set sail 
home. His vessel, the ' Squirrel,' was scarcely more 
than a boac, being only of ten tons burthen. A 
storm rose, and one of the vessels which accompanied 
him came so near that those who were on board 
could hear what he said. ' Heaven,' he cried out 
cheerfully, ' is as near by sea as by land,' That 
night his friends could see the lights of the little 
' Squirrel ' rocking on the tempestuous waves. On 
a sudden they disappeared, and neither the brave 
old man nor his crew^ were seen again. Other efforts 
to colonise were made. Ealeigh himself sent men 
to settle in what has from that time been known as 
Virginia, called after Elizabeth, the Virgin Queen. 
But they all died or were killed by the Indians. 
Other explorers followed ; but no English colony 
was permanently settled in America till after Eliza- 
beth's death. 



CHAPTEEXXI. 
ELIZABETH'S TRIUMPHS. 

(1580-1588.) 

1. The Roaian Catholic Missionaries. — Almost at 
the same time that Drake came back from his voyage 
some men of a very different kind set foot in Eng- 
land. As Elizabeth had now been Queen for more 
than twenty years, and young men and women ^vere 
growing up who had no recollection of the days 
when the mass had been said in England in Mary's 



FIRST PERIOD. 177 

reign, those who believed that the Eoman Catholic 
religion was true were very sad at seeing the number 
of Protestants increasing. Many earnest men who 
believed this had gone abroad, and now returned as 
missionaries. Elizabeth was much frightened. She 
knew that the Pope had declared her not to be the. 
true Queen of England, and she feared lest, if these 
missionaries converted many people to be Roman 
Catholics, they would drive her off her throne and 
perhaps put her to death. So she and the Parliament 
made fierce laws against the missionaries. If any 
Roman Catholic priest converted any one to his faith, 
or even only said mass, he was to be put to death as a 
traitor ; because the Protestants believed that nobody 
could be a loyal subject to the Queen who thought 
that the Pope had a right to depose her, and they 
did not doubt that all Roman Catholics thought that. 
Even the Roman Catholics who were not priests had 
to pay a great deal of money if they did not go to 
the Protestant churches, and a great many were put 
in prison and treated very cruelly. 

2. Throgmorton's Plot and the Association. — When 
a number of men are ill-treated, there are usually 
some who will try anything, however wicked, to 
revenge themselves on their persecutors. Most of 
the Roman Catholics bore their sufferings bravely 
and patiently, but there were some who wanted to 
murder the Queen and to place Mary Queen of Scots 
on the throne. One man named Francis Throg- 
morton formed such a plan. He was found out, and 
executed. It was discovered that the Spanish am- 
bassador knew of this plot, and Elizabeth at once 

N 



178 OUTLINE OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

ordered him to leave the kingdom. The House o! 
Commons was very eager to prevent any new attempt 
to kill Elizabeth. The members bound themselves in 
an Association, engaging that if Elizabeth were killed 
they would put to death not only her murderers, but 
also any person for whose advantage she might be 
murdered. They meant that if Elizabeth were 
murdered they would kill Mary Queen of Scots, 
They thought that after this none of Mary's friends 
would bring her into danger by trying to kill Eliza- 
beth. The paper on w^hich this engagement was 
written was sent about to all parts of England, and was 
signed by a very large number of Englishmen. English 
people do not like assassination, and Throgmorton's 
plot had much to do with setting a great many 
people against the Pope. 

3. Help sent to the Dutch. — It was not only in 
England that murders were committed in the name 
of religion. In the Netherlands, where the Dutch 
had been fighting bravely against Philip, their great 
leader, the Prince of Orange, whose great-grandson 
was one day to come to deliver England, had been 
murdered by a Eoman Catholic, His son v/as only a 
boy, and Elizabeth sent soldiers to help the Dutch. 
She sent to command them a foolish, selfish man, of 
whom she was very fond, Eobert Dudley, Earl of 
Leicester, the son of that wicked Duke of Northum- 
berland who had ruled England in the time of 
Edward VI. Besides, she did not pay her soldiers, 
they came to help. This expedition cost the life of 
Sir Philip Sydney. He was a young man, but was 
already well known as a writer of prose and verse, -..i 



FIRST PERIOD. 



179 



brave soldier and a courteous gentleman. When lie 
was wounded, a cup of water was brought him to 
quench his thirst. He saw a common soldier lying 
in agony near, and bade him drink the water. 
' Your need,' he said, ' is greater than mine.' 

4. Drake in the West Indies. — Whilst English^ 
soldiers were throwing away their lives uselessly in 




ROBERT DEVEliEUX, 
EARL OF ESSEX. 



WILLIAM CECIL, 
LORD BURGHLEY. 



ROBEItT DUDLEY, 
EARL OF LEICESTER. 



the Netherlands, Drake had sailed for the West 
Indies with a fine fleet. He attacked and took St. 
Domingo, and refused to leave it till a large sum of 
money had been paid. He then sailed to Cartagena 
and forced the inhabitants to pay him 30,000?. The 
yellow fever broke out in his ships and he had to 
sail home. He had taught the King of Spain that, 

>' 2 



180 OUTLINE OF ENGLISH .^IISTORY. 

for all his great navy, his towns were at the mercy 
of the bold English sailors. 

5. The Babing'ton Conspiracy and the Execution of 
the dueen of Scots. — Englishmen were growing less 
afraid of the King of Spain than they had ever been; 
but they were growing more afraid of plots to murder 
the Queen. In the year in which Drake came 
home there was a new" one. Anthony Babington, 
with some other young men, most of whom were in 
tlie Queen's service, and who would therefore have 
no difficulty in getting near her, proposed to assassi- 
nate Elizabeth. The plot was, however, found out 
in time, and the conspirators were executed. Their 
object had been to put Mary on the throne. Thou- 
sands of Englishmen had come to believe that, as 
long as Mary lived, Elizabeth's life would never be 
in safety. Elizabeth's own ministers thought so too. 
They declared that they had found letters written 
by Mary in which she gave her approval to the plot. 
It is not certain whether this was true or not. At 
all events Mary was taken to Fotheringay in North- 
amptonshire, and was there tried and beheaded. 

6. Drake singes the King of Spain's Beard. — Eng- 
lishmen were almost all now on the side of Elizabeth. 
They did not like murderers, and the attempts to 
assassinate the Queen made many people turn 
against the Church of Eome. Englishmen were 
also determined to defend their island against in- 
vasion, and they now heard that Philip was going to 
send an enormous fleet and army to conquer Eng- 
land, and to make it submit to the Pope. In 1587 
Drake was off again. He soon heard that a great 



FISST PERIOD. 181 

fleet was in Cadiz harbour preparing for an attack 
upon England. He sailed right into the harbour, in 
spite of shot from the Spanish batteries, and set fire 
to the store ships, which were laden with provisions 
for the fleet. He then steered round Cape St. Vin- 
cent, and northward along the Portuguese coast, 
burning every vessel he could catch. When he 
reached home he boasted that he had singed the 
King of Spain's beard. He thought that the great 
fleet would hardly get a fresh store of provisions 
together in time to enable it to come to England 
that year. 

7. The Sailing of the Armada. — Drake was right. 
It was not till next year that the great fleet, the In- 
vincible Armada, as the Spaniards called it, was able 
to sail. It was intended to go up the Channel, and 
to take on board a Spanish army commanded by 
Philip's great general, the Duke of Parma, which 
was waiting on the coast of Flanders. The Spaniards 
hoped that if it could succeed in landing them in 
England, Elizabeth would not be able to make a long 
resistance. Elizabeth did not fear. She had no 
regular army, and scarcely any regular navy, but she 
called on every Englishman who could bear arms to 
come forward to defend his native land. Scarcely a 
man refused. The Catholics were as forward as the 
Protestants. Elizabeth reviewed her troops at Til- 
bury. ' My loving people,' she said, ' we have been 
persuaded by some that are careful of our safety to 
take heed how we commit ourselves to armed mul- 
titudes, for fear of treachery ; but I assure you I do 
not desire to live to distrust my faithful and loving 



182 OUTLINE OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

people. Let tyrants fear ! I have always so behaved 
myself that, under God, I have placed my chiefest 
strength and safeguard in the loyal hearts and good 
will of my subjects ; and therefore am I come 
amongst you, as you see, at this time — to lay down 
my life for my God, and for my kingdom, and for 
my people, my honour and my blood, even in the 
dust. I know I have the body but of a weak and 
feeble woman ; but I have the heart of a king, and 
of a King of England too, and think foul scorn that 
Parma or Spain, or any prince of Europe, should 
dare to invade the borders of my realm.' Was it 
strange that when Elizabeth spoke such words as 
these thousands of her sulnjects were ready to die in 
her cause, which was their own as well as hers ? 

When the news that the Spaniards were indeed 
on the way, reached England, the warning was carried 
by lighting up the beacons which then stood on 
every hill-top to tell by their flames that an enemy 
was coming, and that every man must gird on his 
sword to fight for his country. 

Night sank upon the dusky beach, and on the ]:urple sea, 
Such night in England ne'er had been, nor e'er again shall be. 
From Eddystone to Berwick bounds, from Lynn to Milford Bay, 
The time of slumber was as bright and busy as the day; 
For swift to east and swift to west the ghastly war-flame spread, 
High on St. Michael's Mount it shone : it shone on Beachy Head. 
Far on the deep the Spaniard saw along each Southern shire, 
Cape beyond cape, in endless range, those twinkling points of 
fire. 

8. The Armada in the Channel. — The commander 
of the English fleet was Lord Howard of Effingham, 
He was at Plymouth with a few of the Queen's ships 



FIEST PERIOD. 



183 



and a number of small merchant vessels, which were 
ready to fight as well as the Queen's ships. Drake 
was there too. When the Spanish ships came in 
sight, the captains were playing a game of bowls. 
Drake would not hear of stopping the game. 'There 
is time enough,' he said, ' to finish our game and to 
beat the Spaniards too.' The huge Spanish ships, 




SHIPS OF WAR, TIME OF ELIZABETH. 

towering above the waves, swept by in the form of a 
half moon. When they had passed, the active little 
English vessels put out, sailing two feet to their one, 
getting rapidly out of their way, and coming back 
again as they pleased. The Spanish ships could 
neither sail away from them nor catch them. Up 
the Channel sailed the ships of the Armada, firing 



184 OUTLINE OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

and being fired at as they went. So high were they 
that their shot often passed over the heads of the 
English sailors. One of the Spanish ships blew up, 
and two or three others were taken. The rest sailed 
on as they best could, unable to shake off their as- 
sailants, like a bear pursued by a swarm of wasps. 
At last the Spaniards reached the friendly French 
port of Calais. They had found out that the con- 
quest of England was no child's play. 

9. The Armada in the North Sea. — Lord Howard 
and his captains knew that it would not be safe to 
leave the Armada long at Calais. Parma and his 
soldiers were waiting for it in Flanders, prevented 
from stirring by the Dutch ships which were off the 
coast, but ready to embark in some large boats which 
they had got ready, as soon as the Armada came to 
beat off the Dutch. The English captains deter- 
mined to drive the Armada out to sea again. They 
took eight of their own vessels, smeared them with 
pitch, and let them drift with the tide at night time 
amongst the enemy's fleet. When these vessels were 
close to the Spaniards, the few men who had been 
left on board set them on fire, and, jumping into their 
boats, rowed away. The sudden blaze in the dark 
night terrified the Spaniards. The Spanish com- 
mander, the Duke of Medina-Sidonia, gave the sig- 
nal of flight. His men cut the cables by which they 
were anchored, and sailed away. The wind now rose 
to a storm. The English fleet followed, hasten- 
ing their foemen's pace with showers of shot. The 
Spaniards found it impossible to stop, and the great 
ships were soon driven past the long low coast on 



FIRST PERIOD. 185 

whiub Parma's army was waiting for their protection 
in vain. If the wind had not changed a little, they 
would have been wrecked on the coast of Holland. 
Every day one or other of their floating castles was 
either driven on shore or pierced with English shots, 
Drake was in high spirits. ' There was never any- 
thing pleased me better.' he wrote to a comrade, ' than 
seeing the enemy flying with a southerly wind to the 
northwards. God grant ye have a good eye to the 
Duke of Parma ; for with the grace of Grod, if we live, 
I doubt not ere it be long so to handle the matter 
with the Duke of Sidonia as he shall wish himself at 
St. Mary Port among his orange-trees.' After a few 
days more even Drake had had enough. He had 
shot away all his powder, and as he heard the wind 
howling through his rigging, he knew that no 
Spaniard would venture back to try what more 
English sailors might have to offer them. 

10. The Destruction of the Armada. — The Armada 
perished by a mightier power than that of man. 
The storm swept it far to the north. Of the hundred 
and fifty sail which had put out from Spain, a hundred 
and twenty were still afloat when they were left by 
their English pursuers. But they were in a bad case. 
Provisions were running short, and large numbers of 
the men were sick and dying. Masts were split and 
sails were torn by shot and storm. At last they 
rounded the Orkneys, and tried to make their way 
home round Scotland and Ireland. One great ship 
was wrecked on the Isle of Mull. The natives, 
savage as they then were, set fire to it and burnt it 
with its crew. The rest made their way along the 



186 OUTLINE OF ENG^LISH HISTORY. 

west coast of Ireland. Not a few were driven on 
shore on the high cliffs against which the Atlantic 
ocean rolls its waves without a break on this side of 
America. ]Most of the Spaniards who reached the 
shore and fell into the hands of the English were 
put to death. Those who fell into the hands of the 
Irish were also butchered for the sake of plunder. 
The greater part were swallowed up by the sea. 
' When I was at Sligo,' wrote an Englishman, ' I 
numbered on one strand of less than five miles in 
length, eleven hundred dead bodies of men, which 
the sea had driven upon the shore. The country 
people told me the like was in other places, though 
not to the like number.' Fifty-four vessels, with 
nine or ten thousand sick and suffering men on 
board, were all that succeeded in struggling home to 
Spain. Philip was struck to the heart at his failure, 
shut himself up in his room, and for a time would 
speak to no one. Yet when the beaten Admiral 
arrived, he did not reproach him. ' I sent you to 
fight against men,' he said, ' and not with the winds.' 
Elizabeth, too, acknowledged that her triumph was 
not owing to herself, or even to her sailors. She 
went in state to St. Paul's, to return thanks for the 
victory which had been gained, and she struck a 
medal which bore the motto, ' Grod blew with His 
wind, and they were scattered.' 



FIEST PEEIOD. 187 



CHAPTEE XXII. 
THE LAST YEARS OF ELIZABETH. 

(1588-1603.) 

1. Continuance of War with Spain. — Elizabeth 
reigned for fifteen more years after the defeat of the 
Armada. Spain was unable to protect its trade and 
its colonies in America. Spanish towns were sacked^ 
and Spanish wealth was carried -off to England. 
The Spaniards were brave men, and fought hard. 
Drake died in the West Indies, on one of his plun- 
dering expeditions. 

2. Death of Sir Richard Grenville. — The most 
heroic death in the whole war was that of Sir Eichard 
Grenville. His little ship, the ' Eevenge,' was one 
of six which were overtaken at the Azores by fifty- 
three Spanish ships, some of them of enormous size. 
Five of his comrades fled, as they well might, before 
such odds. Grenville refused to fly. The little 
' Eevenge ' fought all alone through the whole of 
the afternoon. Our own living poet has told the story, 
speaking as if he had been one of that valiant crew. 

And the sun went down, and the stars came out, far over the 

summer sea, 
But never for a moment ceased the fight of the one and the 

fifty-three, 
3hip after ship, the whole night long, their high-built galleons 

came ; 
Ship after ship, the whole night long, with her battle-thunder 

and flame. 



188 OUTLINE OF ENGLISH HISTOEY. 

Ship after ship, the whole night long, drew back with her dead 

and her shame ; 
For some were sunk, and many were shatter'd, and so could fig^t 

no more, 
God of battles ! was ever a battle like this in the world before ? 

Through the whole of that night the one English 
vessel, with but a hundred fighting men to begin 
with, fought the fifty-three Spanish ships. 

And tne night went down, and the san smiled out, far over the 

summer sea. 
And the Spanish fleet, with broken sides, lay round us, all in a 

ring: 
But they dared not -touch us again, for they fear'd that we still 

could sting. 
So they watch 'd what the end would be, 
And we had not fought them in vain. 
But in perilous plight were we, 
Seeing forty of our poor hundred slain, 
And half of the rest of us maim'd for life 
In the crash of the cannonades, and the desperate strife ; 
And the sick men down in the hold were most of them stark 

and co-d. 
And the pikes were all broken and bent, and the powder was all 

of it spent. 
And the masts and the rigging were lying over the side. 

The little ' Eevenge ' could hold out no longer. 
Grrenviile himself, like all his men who remained 
alive, was sore wounded, and the Spaniards rushed 
on board his ship, and took it. They carried Grren- 
viile to one of their own vessels to die. His last 
words were befitting one who had fought so well. 
' Here die I, Richard Grrenviile,' he said, ' with a joy- 
ful and a quiet mind ; for that I have ended my life as 
a good soldier ought to do, who has fought for his 
country and his queen, for his honour and religion.' 



FIEST PEEIOD. 18& 

3. The Expedition to Cadiz. — After this a great 
expedition was sent to Cadiz. The command was 
given to Lord Howard of Effingham and the young 
Earl of Essex, who was now the Queen's favourite^ a 
dashing young man, who was too vain and impatient 
ti do anything really great. Essex was always 
wanting to get renown by some great warlike ex- 
ploit. He was angry when any one said that there 
had been fighting enough, and that it was time to 
make peace with Spain. One day, when he was 
talking in this way, the wise old Lord Burghley, 
who had been Elizabeth's minister all through the 
reign, opened a Bible and showed him the words, 
' Bloody and deceitful men shall not live out half 
their days.' On board this fleet was Sir Walter 
Ealeigh, who could do anything he chose to put 
his hand to. When the fleet reached Cadiz, it found 
about seventy or eighty armed Spanish ships under 
the walls, ready to defend the town. The town 
itself was protected with fortifications, on which 
guns were mounted. The English fleet dashed in, 
each captain eagerly trying to thrust his ship into 
the foremost place. The Spaniards took fright. 
The soldiers who had been on board their ships 
hurried on shore 'as thick as if coals had been poured 
out of a sack.' They set fire to their own ships, and 
the great Spanish fleet was soon in a blaze. The 
town was then taken, and plundered and burnt. 

4. Essex in Ireland. — As Essex was always 
asking to be allowed to command an army some- 
where, the Queen gave him some work to do 
which was harder even than the taking of Cadiz. 



190 OUTLINE OF ENGLISH HISTOEY. 

Ireland had never been really conquered. A sraall 
district round Dublin obeyed the English law, but 
the rest of the people lived in their own way, 
governed by their own chiefs. Elizabeth had been 
afraid lest the Spaniards should take it, and she had 
tried to conquer the Irish chiefs. At one time she took 
a great quantity of land from them and gave it to 
Englishmen. The Irish did not like this, and some 
years after the defeat of the Armada they rose against 
her and defeated an English army. She therefore 
sent Essex with a larger army to conquer them. 
Essex marched about the country, doing nothing 
which was of any use, and losing most of his men. 
Then he came back to England suddenly when he 
ought to have remained in Ireland, and went straight 
to the Queen in his muddy clothes, without changing 
his dress after riding, thinking that he would per- 
suade her to forgive him. Elizabeth did not like 
even her favourite to disobey her, and she sent him 
away to his own house, ordering him to stop there 
till there had been an inquiry to find out why he 
had come away from Ireland. Essex did not like 
this, and one day he and a few friends mounted 
their horses and rode into the city, calling on the 
citizens to rise to protect him. The citizens did 
nothing of the kind, and Essex was tried upon the 
charge of treason, and executed. 

5. Conquest of Ireland. — x\fter Essex came back 
Elizabeth sent Lord Mountjoy to conquer Ireland. He 
succeeded in doing it ; and at the end of Elizabeth's 
reign Ireland was, for the first time, entirely under 
the English Grovernment. But Mountjoy onlj^ con- 
quered the North of Ireland by destroying all the 



FIRST PERIOD. 1^1 

food in the country. There was a terrible famine, 
and a large number of the Irish people there died 
of starvation. 

6. The Monopolies»~Elizabeth had very little 
money. She did not like to ask parliament to tax 
tde people, for fear of making people dissatisfied 




QUEEN ELIZABETH IN THE MANTLE OF THE ORDER OK THE GARTER, 

with her. At the same time she had a great many 
favourites whom she wished to reward, and she did it 
by giving them the monopoly of some article or other ; 
that is to say, by allowing nobody but them to sell it. 
Of course they charged more for these things than 
would have been charged if anybody who liked had 



192 OUTLINE OF ENGLISH HISTOEY. 

been allowed to sell them. At last the people got 
angry, and the House of Commons begged her to 
put an end to these monopolies. The Queen at once 
gave way. When she knew that all her people were 
determined to have a thing, she never resisted them. 
' I have more cause to thank you ail,' she said to the 
Speaker of the House of Commons, ' than you me ; 
and I charge you to thank them of the House of 
Commons from me, for had I not received a know- 
ledge from you, I might have fallen into the lap of 
an error, only for lack of true information. I have 
ever used to set the last judgment-day before mine 
eyes, and so to rule as I shall be judged to answer 
before a higher Judge, to whose judgment-seat I do 
appeal, that never thought was cherished in my 
heart that tended not to my people's good. Though 
you have had, and may have, many princes more 
mighty and wise sitting in this seat, yet you never 
had, or shall have, any that will be more careful and 
loving.' 

7. Elizabeth's Death. — This was the last time 
that Elizabeth spoke to her people. In 1603 she 
died, after a long reign of forty-five years. She had 
many faults, but she was a great queen. She found 
England divided and weak, she left it united and 
strong. Englishmen were proud of their country. 
As we look back to that time we are able to see that 
if they were fierce and cruel in their revenge upon 
Spain, the victory was one for which all the world 
was the better, Spain was a land of tjrranny, where 
no man dared to speak a word against the king or 
the church. England was not so free as it is now. 



FIRST PERIOD. 193 

but it was much freer than any other country in 
Europe was then. It was a land where men, if they 
did not want to overthrow the governmentj might 
speak as they pleased, and think as they pleased. 
Great writers and great poets arose at the end of 
Elizabeth's reign. Shakspere, the greatest of them 
all, expressed the feeling which taught Englishmen 
that their well-being lay in the unity among them- 
selves which sprang from their devotion to the 
queen, when he wrote : — 

This England never did — nor never shall— 
Lie at the proud foot of a conqueror, 
But when it first did help to wound itself* 



SECOND PERIOD. 



CHAPTEE XXIII. 
JAMES I. AND THE HOUSE OF COMMONS. 

(1603-1614.) 

1. Accession of James I. — James I., the king who 
succeeded Elizabeth, came from Scotland. He was 
ih.e son of Mary Queen of Scots who had been be- 
headed at Fotheringay, and the great-grandson of 
the eldest sister of Henry VIII. For the first time 
the same king ruled over Scotland as well as Eng- 
land ; though each country, for a long tjme after- 
wards, kept its own laws and its own Parliament. 

2. The Hampton Court Conference. — Many people 
expected that when the new king arrived he would 
make many changes which Elizabeth had been 
unwilling to make. Amongst these, the Puritans 
thought that he would do something for them. 
They did not want to separate from the Church of 
England, and to have churches or chapels of their 
own. Those of them who were clergymen asked to be 
allowed to leave out parts of the service which they 

o 2 



196 



OUTLINE OF ENG-LISH HISTORY. 



thought it wrong to make use of. They were un- 
wilKug to wear surplices, or to make the sign of the 
cross when they baptised children, or to allow a ring 
to be placed on a bride's finger at her marriage ; 
because they thought that these things were super- 
stitious. They also wanted a few other changes to 
be made in the Prayer Book. James sent for some 




JAMBS I. 



of them to come to Hampton Court to talk with him 
and the bishops. He really wanted to hear what 
they had to say, but unfortunately he was a very 
impatient man, and he fancied that every one who 
differed from him was a fool. He therefore got very 
angry, and refused to help the Puritans. The only 
good thing that came of this conference was an 
order which was given for a new translation of the 



SECOND PEEIOD. 



197 



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198 OUTLINE OF ENGLISH HISTOKY, 

Bible, in which the mistakes which had been made 
in former translations were to be set right. After 
*several years this new translation was finished, and 
is the one which is used generally in England at the 
present day. 

3. James I. and the House of Commons. — When 
Parliament met, the members of the House of 
Commons did not like what James had been doing. 
They thought that, as it was very difficult to find a 
sufficient number of clergymen who could preach 
good sermons, it would be better to allow them all 
to preach, whether they would wear surplices or not. 
The Commons were, therefore, not in a very good 
humour with the king, and they were the more 
displeased when they found that James wanted 
them Lo give him money. Elizabeth had been 
very sparing, and even stingy, but when James 
came to England from such a poor country as Scot- 
land then was, he fancied that he was going to be 
extremely rich, and began giving away estates and 
money to his Scotch friends. He soon found out 
that if his income was greater in England than it 
had been in Scotland, his expenses were also much 
more, and that unless the House of Commons would 
give him money he would run into debt. The 
Commons, however, would not give him money 
unless he did what they wanted, so that they and 
the king did not agree very well together. 

4. The Gunpowder Plot. — The Catholics were 
more badly treated than the Puritans. James pro- 
mised that if they did not make disturbances he 
would not make them pay the fines which they were 



SECOND PEEIOD. 



199 



bound to pay by law, but he soon broke bis promise. 
One of their number, named Catesby, resolved to 
blow up with gunpowder the Lords and Commons, 
when they came to hear the king's speech at the 
opening of Parliament. In this way, both James 
himself, and the men who refused to alter the laws 
which directed the persecution of the Catholics, 




GUNPOWDER CONSPIRATORS. 



would be punished. Catesby expected that James's 
sons would be blown up with their father, and he 
intended, after this had been done, to take James's 
little daughter Elizabeth, who was being educated in 
Warwickshire, and to bring her up as a Catholic 
Queen. If Catesby had succeeded, he would pro- 
bably have been murdered, or executed for his crime 
long before he could get near the child; but he 



200 OUTLINE OF ENGLISH HISTOEY. 

was too angry to think of this. He let some other 
Catholics into the secret, one of whom was Guide 
Fawkes, or, as he is commonly called now, Gruy 
Fawkes. These men hired a house next to the one 
in which Parliament was to meet, and began to 
break a hole in the wall which separated the build- 
ings, in order to carry the gunpowder through it to 
a place under the floor upon which the king would 
be standing. They were not accustomed to such 
hard work, and they were in despair at the slow 
progress they were making, when suddenly they 
heard a rustling sound. One of them went to see 
what was happening, and found that a woman was 
moving coals from a coal-cellar near, and that the 
cellar was to be let. As they found that it ran 
underneath the Parliament room they at once took 
it. There was no longer any necessity for them to 
break through the wall. They brought into the 
cellar several barrels of gunpowder and covered them 
over with faggots and pieces of wood. 

5. Discovery of the Plot. — The plotters wanted 
more money than they had got, because they wished 
to buy horses and armour to enable them to seize 
the little Elizabeth as soon as the explosion had 
taken place. They therefore let into the secret 
some rich men w^ho would be likely to give them 
money. One of these had a brother-in-law in the 
House of Lords, and did not wish that he should be 
blown up with the rest. He therefore let him know 
what was being done, and the information was carried 
to the government. On the night before Parliament 
was to meet, Gruy Fawkes went down to the cellar to 



SECOND PIRLOD. 201 

be ready to set fire to the powder in the morning. 
He was made a prisoner, and his companions fled 
into the country. Some were killed but most of 
them were taken and executed. 

6. The English Government of Ireland. — At the 
end of Elizabeth's reign, Ireland had been for the 
first time brought completely under the power of 
the English government. For some few years the 
English tried to do their best for the native Irish, 
and to give to those who wished to live quietly 
lands which they might have for their own, whilst 
those who could do nothing but fight were sent 
abroad to fight in foreign armies. Some of the 
chiefs who had ruled the Irish tribes before Ireland 
had been conquered did not like to see the English 
having so much power in the country, and settling 
matters where they had been themselves accustomed 
to have everything their own way. One of their 
number, O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone, had a quarrel with 
another Irishman. He was summoned to Dublin 
that his case might be heard, and behaved so rudely 
to the Lord Deputy, Sir Arthur Chichester, who 
governed in the king's name, that he was ordered 
to go to England to give an account of his actions. 
He was afraid that if he obeyed he would never be 
allowed to come back again, and, with another Irish 
Earl, he fled to Spain. 

7. The Colonisation of Ulster. — The two earls 
who had fled had been chiefs over six counties in 
Ulster. Chichester advised that the lands of these 
counties should be given to the Irishmen who lived 
on them, and that, when they were all satisfied, the 



202 OUTLINE OF ENGLISH HISTOEY. 

land which remained should be divided amonorst new 
colonists from England and Scotland. The English 
government did not take his advice. The best land 
was given to Englishmen and Scotchmen, and what 
remained was granted to the Irish, who were thus 
thrust out of their old homes. The new colonists 
were much more industrious than the Irish, and 
they soon made Ulster more fertile than the Irish- 
men would have done for a long time to come ; but 
it was very cruel to the Irish, and it would not be 
easy to make them forget the treatment which they 
had received. 

8. The Great Contract and the Impositions. — 
These troubles made it necessary to keep up a 
larger army in Ireland than before. The expense 
caused by this made James run into debt even more 
than he had done at the beginning of his reign. In 
1610, therefore, he asked Parliament to agree to a 
scheme which was known as the Gfreat Contract, by 
which he was to receive a large increase of income 
on condition of his giving up a number of rights 
which were burdensome to his subjects. The House 
of Commons, on its part, asked him to give way on 
another question of great importance. In order to 
get more money, he had made the merchants pay 
duties on goods taken out of the kingdom or brought 
into it, besides those payments which had been 
granted to him by Parliament. These duties being 
put on or imposed by the king himself, were called 
Impositions. The judges said that the king had a 
right by law to do this. The House of Commons 
said he had not. An agreement was very nearly come 



SECOND PERIOD. 203 

to about both the Great Contract and the Impositions. 
But, after all, the king and the House of Commons 
quarrelled. The king wanted more money than the 
Commons were ready to give, and he dissolved the 
Parliament in an ill-temper. 

9. The Addled Parliament.— At last James 
summoned another Parliament. But that Parlia- 
ment said just the same about the Impositions as 
the one before it had said. The king dissolved it 
after it had sat for only a few weeks. It is known 
as the Addled Parliament, because it did not produce 
a single new law. 



CHAPTEE XXIV. 
JAMES I. AND SPAIKT. 

(]61'J-162o.) 



1. James's Favourites. — James had quarrelled 
with his Parliaments because he wanted to have 
everything his own way, and did not care about the 
things about which his subjects cared. In managing 
the affairs of government, too, he did not like to 
take good advice. He thought it best to have a 
young man near him v/ho was clever and amusing, 
and who would do everything for him, without 
w-anting to have a way of his own. The first young 
man whom he chose for this purpose was a Scotch- 
man named Eobert Carr, whom he made Earl of 
Somerset. After some time, the new earl 



was 



204 OUTLINE OF EJSGLISH HISTUEY. 

accused of committing a murder, and, though it is 
not quite certain whether he had done so, there can 
be no doubt that his wife had planned the crime. 
At all events, both he and his wife were tried and 
condemned to death, and, though James pardoned 
them, they never came near the court again. The 
next favourite was Greorge Villiers, who was soon 
made Lord Buckingham, and some years afterwards 
Duke of Buckingham. He was a gay young man, 
fond of dancing and riding, and was able to amuse 
the king with his talk. James gave him very large 
landed estates, so that he soon became very rich, 
though when he first came to court he was so poor 
that he had to borrow money to buy himself a suit 
of clothes fit to appear in. Nobody was appointed 
to any office who did not first come to Buckingham 
to ask for his favour, so that though he was at first 
kind and affable, he soon became conceited, and used 
to speak roughly to men who did not treat him with 
very great respect indeed. This was very bad for 
the king, as men who were fit to give him good 
advice did not like to be humble to Buckingham. 

2. The Spanish Marriage Treaty. — James knew 
that he would be obliged to send for another Parlia- 
ment unless he could get money in some other way. 
One plan he had for getting money was to marry his 
son Charles to Maria the daughter of Philip III., king 
of Spain. She was known as the Infanta, a title 
given to the daughter of the Spanish kings. Philip 
offered to give a large sum of money when the mar- 
riage took place, but he asked that Catholics in 
England should be allowed to worship in their own 



SECOND PERIOD. 205 

way without punishment. Englishmen were still 
so angry about the Gunpowder Plot that James 
would hardly have been able to do this if he had 
wished it, and, though the marriage was talked of 
for some time, it did not seem likely that it would 
ever be really brought about. The English people 
did not at all like to see their king friendly with 
Spain, as they had not forgiven the Spaniards for 
all that had happened in Elizabeth's time, and they 
thought that if the king of Spain got a chance he 
would be as ready to meddle in England as his 
father, Philip II. , had been before him. 

3. Raleigh's Voyage. — One of those who hated 
Spain most was Sir Walter Ealeigh. At the begin- 
ning of the reign he had been accused of a crime 
of which he had not been guilty, and had been con- 
demned to death. But James had shut him up in 
prison in the Tower instead of having him executed. 
He now declared that if James would let him out 
he would go to a gold mine in South America near 
the Orinoco and bring home a large store of gold. 
James, who wanted gold, let him go, but told him 
that he must not go to any of the lands belonging 
to the king of Spain, and that if he did he should 
be beheaded, as he might be, without any new trial, 
because he had been already condemned. Ealeigh 
sailed, and when he reached the mouth of the Ori- 
noco it was arranged that some of his ships should 
go up the river to look for the mine, and that others 
should stay at the mouth to prevent any Spanish 
ships coming in. None of the sailors would go up 
unless Ealeigh would stay to guard the mouth, as 



•206 OUTLINE OF ENClLISll HISTOEY. 

they said that they could not trust any one else not 
to sail away if danger came. He was therefore 
obliged to leave the search for the mine to one of 
his sons and to his friend Captain Keymis. When 
Keymis had nearly reached the place where the 
mine was, he found a Spanish village on the bank 
where he had not expected to find it. He landed 
lus men, and after a sharp fight they forced their 
way into the village, though they were obliged to 
set fire to it before the Spaniards could be driven 
out. Young Ealeigh was shot down in the midst 
of the fight. His comrades never reached the place 
where the mine was. The Spaniards, who had taken 
refuge in the woods, fired at the English from behind 
the trees whenever they attempted to move, and 
at last Keymis was obliged to re-embark his men in 
the boats and to make his way sadly down the 
stream of the mighty river. Ealeigh learned from 
his old friend that all his prospect of success and his 
hope of life itself was at an end. He-lost his temper, 
and threw all the blame on poor Keymis, who had 
done his best, ' It is for you,' he said, ' to satisfy 
the king since you have chosen to take your own 
way. I cannot do it.' The old sailor could not 
bear this unmerited reproach. He went back to his 
cabin, and thrust a knife into his heart. A boy, 
w^ho opened the door half an hour afterwards, found 
him dead. 

4. Raleigh's Return and Execution. — Ealeigh's 
first thought after this failure was to try to persuade 
the captains of his fleet to join him in attacking 
some Spanish ships in order to get gold or silver to 



SECOXi) PEEIOD. 207 

take home to the king. The captains thought 
that this would be piracy, and said that they did 
not want to be hanged. Ealeigh had to come home. 
He was seized and thrown into prison. So hateful 
were the Spaniards in England that James did not 
venture to allow him to be heard in public in his 
own defence. Almost every man in England was 
ready to applaud a bold sailor who had hurt nobody 
but the Spaniards. Ealeigh was now; the most 
popular man in the country. He ascended the 
scaffold with a jest on his tongue. The crowd was 
thicko and he saw one of his friends trying with diffi- 
culty to push his way through it. 'I know not,' 
Ealeigh called out, ^ what shift you will make, but 
I am sure to have a place.' When he knelt down 
to lay his head on the block some one told him that 
he ought to have laid his face towards the east. 
* What matter,' he answered, ' how the head lie, so 
that the heart be right.' The axe descended, and 
his voice was silenced for ever. 

5. James I, and the Thirty Years War. — A war 
broke out in Germany, called the Thirty Years War, 
in which the German Catholic princes were on one 
side and many of the German Protestant princes on 
the other. The principal of these latter was Frede- 
rick, who ruled over the Palatinate, a country cf 
which the chief town was Heidelberg. Frederick 
had married James's daughter, Elizabeth. He was 
defeated, and part of his dominions were seized by a 
Spanish army which had come to help his enemies. 
Englishmen were very anxious that the Spaniards 
should not remain in possession of Frederick's land, 



208 OUTLINE OF ENGLISH IlLSTOKY. 

lest he and his Protestant subjects should Le com- 
pelled to change their religion. James agreed with 
his people, because he did not want his daughter and 
her children to be driven out of their home. He sent 
ambassadors to a great many kings and princes to 
beg them to stop fighting, but they paid no attention 
to him. He therefore summoned another Parliament, 
and asked for money thi3t he might be able to pay 
an army to defend the Palatinate, if he went to war. 
As, however, he had made up his mind to send 
some more ambassadors before going to war, the 
Parliament only gave him a little money, and waited 
to see what he w^ould do if the ambassadors did not 
succeed in persuading the Catholics to leave the 
Palatinate alone. 

6. The Monopolies and Lord Chancellor Bacon. — 
The House of Commons complained bitterly of many 
things at home. James had granted a great many 
monopolies as Elizabeth had done. He had done it 
partly to reward his friends, but much more to en- 
courage the introduction into England of new 
manufactures. Those, however, who had got these 
monopolies behaved very harshly and violently to 
men who tried, without the king's leave, to make the 
things w^hich they thought that no one but them- 
selves ought to make. The House of Commons com- 
plained, and James was obliged to put an end to these 
monopolies. The House of Commons then found 
fault with other matters. Grreat officials, in those 
days, were not paid as they are now with a regular 
salary, but received presents from people who wanted 
their help. It was very difficult to prevent Deople 



SECOND PERIOD. 209 

who brought presents to the officials to reward them 
for doing their duty, from bringing presents to 
persuade them to do what they ought not to do. 
At this time Lord Bacon was Lord Chancellor. He 
was a very wise man, and a great philosopher, but 
when people brought him presents he was foolish 
enough to take them without asking himself whether 
they wanted to bribe him or not. In many cases 
these people hoped that he would decide in their 
favour in some matter which he had to settle as a 
judge. He used to take their money, though 
afterwards he decided against them if they were 
in the wrongc Some of these people were very 
angry, and complained to the House of Commons. 
The House of Commons impeached the Lord Chan- 
cellor, that is to say, accused him before the House 
of Lords. Bacon was condemned to lose his office, 
and was punished in other ways besides. 

7. The Loss of the Palatinate. — At last James 
found out that his ambassadors could not save 
the Palatinate merely by talking. He therefore 
asked Parliament to give him more money in order 
that he might be able to pay an army to defend 
that country. The Commons were quite ready 
to give him money, if he would promise to 
declare war against Spain. They knew that the 
Spaniards had sent the first army to attack the 
Palatinate, and they thought that if Spain were 
attacked and beaten at sea, as it had been in the 
days of Sir Francis Drake, the king of Spain would 
not be able to get any more gold or silver from his 
mines in America, and would therefore not be able 

p 



210 OUTLINE OF ENGLISH HISTOKY. 

to help to pay the armies of the German Catholics. 
They therefore wanted a war with Spain, and they 
were much displeased that James was again asking the 
king of Spain, who was now Philip IV., to give his 
sister, the Infanta, to the Prince of Wales. English- 
men did not at all wish to have a Eoman Catholic 
queen in England when Charles came to be king. 
James, on the other hand, wanted to remain at peace 
with Spain and only to make war on the Grerman 
Catholics. He became very angry with the House 
of Commons, and dissolved this Parliament. As 
Parliament had not given him any money, he was 
unable to pay an army, and before the year 1622 
was over the Palatinate was conquered by the 
Spaniards and their friends. 

8. Prince Charles's Visit to Madrid. — By this 
time Buckingham was even on better terms with 
Charles than he had been with his father, and. he 
now^ persuaded Charles to visit Madrid to make love 
to the Infanta. In those days Princes scarcely ever 
visited foreign countries, because they were afraid of 
being seized and kept in prison to make them give 
up something or another which belonged to them. 
Buckingham persuaded Charles that the king of 
Spain WT)uld take a visit from him as so great a 
compliment that he would give him back the 
Palatinate to show how pleased he was. The two 
young men put on false beards to conceal them- 
selves, called themselves Tom Smith and Dick 
Smith, and set out for Spain. When they reached 
Madrid the king pretended to be very pleased to see 
them. In reality he was very sorry that they had 



SECOND PERIOD, 211 

come. His sister had told him that she would not 
marry Charles, because the English Prince was a 
Protestant. At the Spanish Court the king and the 
royal family lived in a very formal way. Charles 
was not allowed to see the Infanta privately. One 
day he heard that she was in a garden, and jumped 
over a wall to talk to her. To his surprise she 
shrieked and ran into the house. Philip tried 
to make Charles break off the marriage by asking 
him to grant liberty to the English Catholics to 
worship without being punished for it. Charles 
promised anything he was asked to promise, without 
thinking whether he would ever be able to keep his 
word. At last Philip told Charles that he must 
go back to England and do what he had engaged to 
do, and that then, if he really did it, the Infanta 
should be sent after him to be his wife. The Infanta, 
not very willingly, agreed to this. She got an 
English grammar and dictionary, and began studying 
the language w4iich she would have to use here. 
Charles however thought that he was being treated 
with contempt. He came back to England, and 
refused to marry the Infanta unless her brother 
would give back the Palatinate. The king of Spain 
said that he could not do this, and the marriage was 
no more thought of. The Infanta put her English 
grammar and dictionary away. A few years after- 
wards she married a German Catholic Prince, the 
son of the Emperor, and was probably a great deal 
happier than if she had come to live as Charles's 
wife, amongst the English Protestants. 

9. End of James's Reign. — James called another 

p 2 



212 OUTLINE OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

Parliament which voted him money, and which would 
have been very well pleased if he had at once gone to 
war with Spain. He told the members that he was 
ready to fight to recover the Palatinate, but he must 
first send some more ambassadors to find out what allies 
he was likely to have. Before the Parliament came 
to an end, it learned that James wanted to marry 
his son to Henrietta Maria, the sister of Louis XIII,, 
king of France. Englishmen would have been 
much better pleased to hear that Charles was going 
to marry a Protestant lady. To give some little 
satisfaction, both James and Charles promised that 
they would not engage to the king of France to 
give freedom of worship to the English Catholics. 
After the session of Parliament had come to an end, 
James found that the king of France would not give 
up his sister unless both James and Charles would 
engage to let the Catholics worship freely. Rather 
than be disappointed in this marriage as they had 
been disappointed in Spain, they both engaged to do 
this, and so broke their promise to the Parliament. 
They were therefore afraid to summon Parliament 
again till the marriage was actually over, when it 
would be too late for any one to grumble. This was 
the more disastrous because they had already made 
some preparations for war, and had arranged that 
12,000 English soldiers should go under Count 
Mansfeld, a Grerman officer, to conquer the Palati- 
nate. As Parliament was not sitting to vote money, 
the poor men were sent off without pay and without 
food in the middle of winter. When they arrived 
in Holland they were put in large boats to be taken 



SECOND TERIOD. 213 

Tip the rivers. It began to freeze hard, and the ice 
prevented the boats from moving. If the kind 
Dutch had not brought them bread and cheese, 
the soldiers would have been starved to death. As 
it was, they had nothing but a little straw with which 
to cover themselves, and they fell so ill with the 
bitter cold that in two or three weeks only 3,000 
men of the 12,000 were able to march. They were 
not enough to conquer the Palatinate, and the 
whole expedition was a failure. About this time 
James died. 



CHAPTEE XXV. 

CHARLES I. AND HIS FIRST THREE 
PARLIAMENTS. 

(1625-1029.) 

1. The First Parliament of Charles I. — Charles 
I. now summoned Parliament and asked for money 
for the war. The Commons knew that the young 
king did everything that Buckingham asked him to 
do, and that Buckingham had managed the sending 
out of Mansfeld's expedition without food or money. 
They also suspected that Charles had not kept his 
promise about the English Catholics. Instead there- 
fore of giving him the large sum of money that 
he wanted, they gave him very little. Charles said 
he must have more. They told him that as long as 
he consulted no one but Buckingham how money 



214 



OUTLINE OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 



was spent, they could not help him. If he would 
take the advice of others whom they trusted, they 
would give more money. Charles was ver}^ ^^g^J, 
and dissolved his first parliament. 

2. The Expedition to Cadiz. — Buckingham advised 
Charles to go on with the war whether Parliament 
ga,ve him anything or not. He got just enough money 




CHAELES I. 



together to send a fleet and army to Cadiz. When 
the army landed, instead of attacking the town it 
marched in another direction to attack some Spanish 
troops which its cotrmander had heard of. As there 
were no Spanish troops near, the soldiers only got very 
hot and tired, and as their commander had forgotten to 
see that they had any provisions with them, they were 
very hungry too. They found a large quantity of wine 



SECONJ) PERIOD. 215 

in a Spanish village, and swallowed it so greedily 
that the whole army was soon drunk, and if there 
had been an enemy near every man might have been 
killed. The next day the troops marched back to 
Cadiz; but the town was too well fortiiied to be 
> taken. The fleet and army came back to England 
without doing anything at all. In some books of 
nursery rhymes is still to be found the following 
account of this expedition : — 

' There was a fleet that went to Spain ; 
When it got there, it came back again.' 

3. The Second Parliament of Charles I. and the 
Forced Loans. — In the next Parliament Buckingham 
was impeached — that is to say, he was accused before 
the Lords by the Commons, of making himself rich 
and ruining the nation. Before the trial was finished, 
the king dissolved his second Parliament as he had 
dissolved his first. He was in great difficulty for 
money. He sent to ask his subjects to give him 
some ; but scarcely any one would give him anything 
at all, and it was against the law to make any one 
give. Somebody however told Charles that though he 
coQld not make his subjects give he could make them 
lend. As he was not likely ever to be able to repay 
what he borrowed, there was not much difference be- 
tween lending and giving. Nevertheless he took 
the advice and ordered all persons with property to 
pay him money as a forced loan. He threw into prison 
the chief men w^ho would not pay, and he got a large 
sum from those who had rather pay than go to 
prison. 



216 OUTLINE OF ENGLISH HISTOEY. 

4. The War with France and the Expedition tfi 
Rhe. — Charles had good reason to want money. In 
less than a year after the dissolution of his second 
Parliament he had quarrelled with France as well as 
with Spain. The king of France was at war with 
his Protestant subjects, and was besieging the town 
of La Eochelle. Buckingham went wdth a great 
fleet and army to deliver it. He began by laying 
siege to a fort on the I si 3 of Ehe not far from La 
Eochelle. He could not take it, and came home, 
having accomplished nothing at all. 

5. The Third Parliament of Charles I. and the 
Petition of Right.— Charles was determined to go on 
with the war, to deliver La Eochelle. As he had 
no money left, he summoned a Third Parliament. 
That Parliament presented to him the Petition of 
Eight, in which they demanded, amongst other things, 
that he should never levy taxes or forced loans 
without the consent of Parliament, and never put 
any man in prison without giving a reason for it, so 
that the man might have his case tried by the judges ; 
whereas if no reason was given, the judges would 
not know what he was accused of and could not try 
the case, so that he might be left in prison as long 
as the king pleased. Charles was most unwilling 
to yield to this, but he did at last, and the Petition 
of Eight became law. The London citizens rang 
the bells merrily, and lit up bonfires in the 
streets. 

6. Murder of Buckingham. — Charles, in return 
for his grant of the Petition of Eight, got the money 
which he wanted, and gathered another great fleet 



SECOND PERIOD. 217 

and army, with which Buckingham was to drive 
off the besiegers from La Eochelle. Buckingham 
went to Portsmouth to take the command. There 
was scarcely an Englishman who did not hate 
him for squandering the money and lives of his 
countrymen on these foolish plans which never suc- 
ceeded. A certain John Felton, who had been 
turned out of an officer's place by Buckingham, 
fancied that he would be doing Grod service by mur- 
dering him, just as Catesby and Gruy Fawkes had 
fancied that they were doing God service if they 
could murder the king and the Parliament. He 
bought a knife, went down to Portsmouth, and stood 
outside the door of a room in which Buckingham was 
breakfasting. At last Buckingham stepped out, and 
stopped for a moment to speak to one of his officers. 
Felton struck him hard with his knife in the breast, 
saying as he did it, ' Grod have mercy on thy soul.' 
Buckingham staggered forward and fell dead. The 
murderer merely slipped away for a short time, but 
his hat fell' off, and he was soon recognised. It 
was not long before he was sentenced to death, and 
hanged. 

7. Breach between Charles and the Parliament. — 
Charles had now to try to govern without Bucking- 
ham. When Parliament met again there were new 
quarrels between it and the king. In the first place 
there was a disagreement between him and the Puri- 
tans about certain doctrines which they wished to have 
taught, whilst he wished that these doctrines should 
not be taught. Then there was a disagreement 
about the payment of duties on goods going out of 



218 OUTLINE OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

the kingdom and coming in, which were known as 
tonnage and poundage, and which had been granted 
to the kings and queens before him by their Parlia- 
ments for their lifetime. He had dissolved his 
earlier parliaments 'so soon that they had never had 
time to say whether they would grant him these 
duties or not. He had, however, taken them, as if 
they had been granted, and as many people had 
lately refused to pay he had seized their goods. One 
of those whose goods had been seized was a member 
of Parliament, and Sir John Eliot, a noble-minded 
man and a great speaker in the House of Commons, 
advised that the Custom House officers who had 
seized this man's goods should be sent for and pun- 
ished. The king said they had acted by his orders, 
and should not be punished. He then ordered the 
House to adjourn, that is to say, to stop sitting for 
a few days. The House did as he wished once, but 
when orders came for a second adjournment, two 
strong members, knowing that as long as the Speaker, 
whose business it was to keep order in the House, 
remained in his seat, the House could not be ad- 
journed, stepped forward and held him down by 
force in his chair, whilst Eliot asked the House to 
vote that any one who preached the doctrines which 
the Puritans thought wrong, or any one who paid or 
collected the duties without consent of Parliament, 
was an enemy to his country. There was a great 
tumult in the House, and just as the members were 
shouting 'Aye! aye!' in answer to Eliot's resolution, 
the king arrived. Parliament was dissolved, and 
Charles determined that, for some time at least, he 



SECOND PEEIOD. 219 

would not summon another. This third Parlia- 
ment came to an end in 1629. No Parliament 
was summoned again for eleven years. 



CHAPTER XXVI. 



THE UNPARLIAMENTARY GOVERNMENT OF 
CHARLES I. 

(1629-1640.) 

1. The Imprisonmeiit of Members of Parliament. — 

Charles's first act was to imprison Eliot and some of 
the other members of Parliament who had taken 
part in the disturbance. Eliot and the others said 
that they ought not to be tried in any court ex- 
cept in Parliament itself for that which they had 
done in Parliament. He and the two who had held 
the speaker down were sentenced to heavy fines. 
He refused to pay, and was kept in the Tower till he 
died. Though Charles knew that he was dying he 
would not let him go, and would not even allow his 
body to be removed, after his death, to his home in 
Cornwall for burial. 

2. Laud's Rule in the Church. — Church affairs 
were almost entirely managed by William Laud, who 
was Bishop of London, and who, in 1633, became 
Archbishop of Canterbury. He was determined that 
in every church in England there should be the 
same ceremonies, and that the clergy should read 



220 OUTLINE OF ENGLISH IIISTOEY. 

the whole of the services as they were in the Prayer 
Book, instead of leaving out as much as they pleased. 
One thing which gave great offence to the Puritans 
was the removal of the communion table to the 
east end of the churches, instead of allowing it to 
stand in the middle of the building, as it had done 
in most churches for many years. People fancied 
that Laud wanted to make them Eoman Catholics 
again, and, though this was quite untrue, it was very 
unwise in him to try to make people worship in a way 
which they thought to be wrong. There was a 
Court known as the High Commission Court, which 
had been set up in Elizabeth's reign, before which 
the clergy were brought who refused to use the 
whole of the Prayer Book, and who taught things 
contrary to its doctrines, or were thought by Laud 
and his friends to do so. Many of these were turned 
out of their places, and had to leave the country. 

3. The Court of Star Chamber.— The Court of 
Star Chamber, which had been set up in the reign 
of Henry VIT. to keep in order the great lords, was 
used by Charles I. to punish those who found fault 
with his government. Some men who had been 
abusive had to stand in the pillory, which was a 
piece of wood with a hole in it to fit the neck, and 
then had their ears cut off'. Others who resisted the 
government were imprisoned or fined. There was 
no jury in the Court of Star Chamber. It was now 
composed of two judges and of all the members of 
the King's Council. As these were the very people 
who carried out Charles's orders, they really punished 
in the Star Chamber those persons who had com-* 



SECOND PERIOD. 221 

plained against their own proceedings. They were 
both accusers and judges. No wonder that the 
Court became very unpopular. 

4. Ship Money. — For a few years Charles got on 
pretty well without money granted by Parliament. 
He made the merchants pay the duties, and, as he 
made peace with both France and Spain, he had no 
more military or naval expense. With peace came a 
grow^th of trade, and the duties on goods brought 
more money to the king than they had ever brought 
before. Before long, however, he found it necessary 
to have a fleet. As the Dutch navy had been a large 
one for many years, and the French too had now a 
large navy, Charles thought that England ought to 
have a fleet to defend her coasts and her trade. The 
proper thing to do would have been to send for 
Parliament, and to ask it for money for the navy. 
But the king knew that if Parliament met it would 
refuse to give money unless - he would follow its 
advice in everything, and he was determined not to 
do that. One of his lawyers told him that when the 
country was in danger he had a right to ask the 
people of the towns on the sea-coast to serve in their 
ships against the enemy, and he therefore ordered 
these towns to send him ships. He took care to ask 
for ships larger than those which were to be found 
in any of these places except in London. After a 
little time, he. wrote again to say that if they had 
not got the ships they might give him money in- 
stead. The money was paid, and the next year he 
asked all the counties in England to pay the ship- 
money, as it was called. He told them that a man 



222 



OUTLINE OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 



who owned sheep with wool on its back in a midland 
county was just as much interested in having the 
trade of the country defended as the man who lived 
in a seaport town, and owned the ship which carried 
the wool across the sea. This was quite true. The 
only question was whether either ought to be made 
to pay without a grant from Parliament. 

5. Hampden's Case. — John Hampden, a Bucking- 
hamshire squire, refused to pay. A court composed 




A COACH, TIME OF CHAKLES I. • 

of all the twelve judges was called on to say what 
the law was. Seven out of the twelve declared their 
belief that the king had a right to levy ship-money. 
The king thought that this settled all disputes, but 
most Englishmen thought that Hampden had been 
right. 

6. The Scottish Prayer Book and the Riot at 
Edinburgh. — Whilst Englishmen were growing dis- 
contented, Scotchmen were preparing actually to 
resist. James had compelled the Scottish Church 



SECOND PERIOD. 223 

to submit to bishops, but he had done very little to 
alter its form of prayer, which was very different 
from that which was used in the Church of England. 
Charles now had a new Prayer Book drawn up which 
was something like the one that was used in Eng- 
land. In 1637 he ordered that this should be read 
in the churches in Scotland. As soon as the clergy- 
man began to read it in the principal church in 
Edinburgh, there began an uproar so loud that his 
voice was drowned. As he did not stop, one woman 
threw a stool at his head ; luckily she did not hit 
him. The magistrates turned the disturbers out of 
the church. The people of Edinburgh took up their 
cause, and the people of Scotland supported the 
people of Edinburgh. It was impossible to read 
the new service anywhere in Scotland. Charles 
threatened, but could do nothing. In the beginning 
of 1638 the Scots signed a National Covenant, bind- 
ing themselves to stand up for their religion against 
all who attacked it. At the end of the year they 
held a General Assembly, a sort of Church-Parlia- 
ment, at Glasgow, where they declared that they 
would have no more bishops, and called on those 
bishops who had been appointed by Charles to appear 
before them to be judged for their faults. 

7. Charles's March to the Borders.— Charles was 
very angry. He got an army together and marched 
with it to the Borders. The Scots marched to the 
Borders too. Charles's army was not very warlike, 
and he had very little money to pay it with. Before 
long his money came to an end, and he was obliged 
to make peace whether he would or no. 



224 OUTLINE OF ENGLISH HLSTOKY. 

8. Wentworth sent for. — After a few monthg he was 
again dissatisfied. The Scots said that the treaty of 
peace meant one thing, and the king said that it 
meant another. As the Scots would not give way, 
he determined to make war upon them once more. 
He sent to Ireland for Wentworth to advise him 
how to do it. Wentworth had been a member of 
the House of Commons in the early Parliaments of 
the reign, and had taken a great part in opposing 
Buckingham, and in calling out for the redress of 
grievances. After the Petition of Eight had been 
granted, he took the King's side. He did not like 
the Puritans, and he did not wish to see the House 
of Commons having everything its own way. He 
had been sent to govern Ireland, and had kept order 
there, and had made the people better off than they 
had been before. Amongst other things he had 
taught the Irish to grow flax to be made into linen. 
But he was a headstrong man, determined to make 
every one obey him, and he dealt very hardly with 
those who resisted him. By his violence he had 
made many enemies in Ireland, and it was not un- 
likely that he would make many enemies in England. 
Soon after he arrived Charles made him Earl of 
Strafford, and for about a year he governed England 
in Charles's name. 

9. The Short Parliament. — Strafford advised the 
king to summon another Parliament. It was now 
eleven years since a Parliament had met in England, 
and Strafford thought that the new Parliament 
which met in April 1640 would be as angry with 
the Scots as he was. Instead of that the House of 



SECOND PERIOD. 225 

Commons asked that Charles should promise never 
to levy ship-money again. They were ready, if he 
would promise this, to give him money in return, 
but not so much as he wanted. They then resolved 
to ask Charles to make peace with the Scots. This 
both Charles and Strafford were determined not to 
do, and Charles dissolved the Parliament. It had sat 
so short a time that it is known in history as the 
Short Parliament. 

10. The Scottish Invasion. — In spite of the disso- 
lution, Charles resolved to make war against the 
Scots. He had borrowed money before the Parliament 
had met, and now he tried to borrow more. When 
no one w^ould lend him money Strafford tried to get 
it in all sorts of ways. He threatened the Lord 
Mayor and Aldermen of London with punishment 
because they would not lend. He talked of seizing 
by force some silver which was in the Mint, and of 
coining bad money so as to pay those to whom the 
king owed money in shillings, each of which would 
only be worth sixpence. At last he bought a large 
quantity of pepper, promising that it should be paid 
for a year later, and selling it at once below its 
value. The army which was to be paid by the 
money got by the sale of the pepper was a miser- 
able one. The men did not want to fight the Scots, 
and were badly drilled. Before the army was ready 
the Scots crossed the Tweed, marched through 
Northumberland, beat some of Charles's soldiers at 
Newburn close to Newcastle, and drove them out of 
the county of Durham. Charles had to promise to 
pay nioney to the Scots till peace was made. As he 

Q 



226 OUTLINE OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

could not get the money without Parliament, he 
was obliged to summon another Parliament, which 
he was not likely to get rid of as easily as he had 
got rid of the others. 



CHAPTEE XXVII. 

THE LONG PARLIAMENT AND THE 
CIVIL WAR. 

(1610-1649.) 

1. StraflFord's Trial. — The Parliament which met 
in November 1640 is known as the Long Parlia- 
ment, because it continued sitting for so many years. 
It began by setting at liberty the men whose ears had 
been cut off by the Star Chamber. Then it impeached 
the king's chief ministers. Strafford and Laud were 
sent to the Tower, and other ministers only escaped 
the same fate by flying to the Continent. Strafford 
was accused before the Lords of a great many 
violent actions and the Commons asked that he 
should be beheaded as a traitor, saying that it was 
treason to the king to try to make him rule without 
Parliaments, because this would really hurt him by 
making him unpopular. They were particularly 
angry with Strafford because they believed that he 
had planned to bring over an Irish army to England 
to make Englishmen do whatever the king wished. 
The Commons were very much afraid of Strafford. 
They knew that the English army which had been 



SECOND PEEIOD. 227 

beaten at Newburn was still in Yorkshire, and they 
thought that if Strafford were set at liberty he would 
be put at the head of that army in order to lead it 
against themselves. The people of London did not 
at all want to see an army marching to take posses- 
sion of their city, and they came to the House of 
Lords shouting out for justice upon Strafford. The 
Lords themselves were at first desirous to save 
Strafford, but they at last made up their mind to 
condemn him. The king shrank from allowing 
his most faithful servant to be put to death, and he 
sent soldiers to seize the Tower, in which Strafford 
was imprisoned. But the soldiers were not allowed 
to enter. An angry multitude came to Whitehall, 
threatening the king and queen. After this Charles 
gave way at last, and Strafford was executed. ' I 
thank God,' he said, as he stood on the scaffold, ' I 
am not afraid of death, but do as cheerfully put off 
my doublet at this time as ever I did when I went 
to bed.' 

2. Changes in the Law. — All this while, and for 
some weeks afterwards. Parliament was busy making 
changes in the law. The king bound himself never 
to levy ship-money again or to take any duties at 
the Custom House without consent of Parliament. 
The Courts of High Commission and Star Chamber 
were aboHshed, and several other new laws were 
made which made it necessary for the king to 
consult Parliament more than he had done before. 
Unfortunately Charles did not at all Hke these 
changes, and the Commons believed that if he only 
bad i-he power, he would try to get back his old 

Q 2 



228 OUTLINE OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

autliority again. All men were therefore much 
relieved when at last peace was made with Scotland, 
and the Scottish and English armies were both 
broken up and sent back to their homes, so thjat 
Charles might no longer be tempted to try to employ 
either of them against Parliament. 

3. Ecclesiastical Parties. — The w^hole of the House 
of Commons was of one mind in wishing the king 
to consult his Parliament, and to govern according 
to law. But there was one subject on which there 
was no agreement. The bishops had oppressed the 
Puritans so much in Laud's time that most of the 
Puritans wished that there should be no bishops at 
all, and they also wished that the Prayer Book should 
be altered. On the other hand there were many men 
in the House of Commons who wished that there 
should still be bishops in the Church and that the 
Prayer Book should remain exactly, or nearly exactly, 
as it was. In the summer of 1641 there w^ere two 
parties in the House nearly equal, which always voted 
against one another whenever anything was to be done 
about the Church. Pym and Hampden were the 
chief men of those who wanted some change to be 
made. Hyde and Falkland were the chief men of 
those who wished things to remain as they were. 
No one thought it possible that every one should be 
allowed to do as he thought right, and that there 
might be some churches where one Prayer Book was 
used, and some churches Avhere another was used, 
and other churches, again, where there was no 
Prayer Book at all. 

4, The Rebellion in Ireland.— At the time when 



SECOND PERIOD. 229 

the two parties were growing angry with one another, 
a rebellion broke out in Ireland. The Irish of 
Ulster, whose lands had been taken away in James's 
reign, drove out the English and Scottish colonists 
who were in possession of those lands. The Irish 
knew that they had been wronged, and they were 
ignorant and cruel. They murdered a great many of 
the colonists, and stripped a great number of men 
and women of their clothes, leaving them to wander 
naked through the country in the cold winter nights. 
The story was bad enough as it really was, but it 
was far worse as it was told in England. The Par- 
liament resolved that an army must be sent to 
Ireland. Unhappily when the soldiers arrived they 
treated the Irish without mercy, and massacred not 
only men, but even women and children. 

5. The Grand Eemonstrance and the Attempt on 
the Five Members. — Pym and his friends in the House 
of Commons were afraid lest if the king appointed 
the officers of this army he would be able to use 
it against Parliament as well as against the Irish. 
They therefore drew up a long paper called the 
Grand Eemonstrance in which they found fault with 
all that Charles had done since the beginning of his 
reign, and asked him never to appoint any ministers 
except such as Parliament should approve of. They 
also asked him to allow a number of clergymen to 
meet to consider what alterations should be made in 
the Prayer Book. Charles refused to do this, and 
though the greater number of the Commons were 
against him, the greater number of the Lords were 
for him. The mob from the Citv came to threaten 



230 OUTLINE OF ENGLISH HISTOEY. 

the Lords, and especially the bishops. Charles 
determined to accuse five members of the House of 
Commons and one member of the House of Lords as 
traitors for having resisted his authority. The 
House of Commons refused to deliver them up, and 
the king came to the House to take them, followed by 
three or four hundred armed men. When he reached 
the House he looked round, and found that the five 
members were gone. He commanded the speaker 
to tell him where they were. ' Sir,' said the speaker, 
' I have neither eyes to see, nor ears to hear, save as 
this House shall please to direct me.' The king left 
the House without discovering where the five mem- 
bers were. The next day he learned that they were 
m the City, and he went there to take them. The 
citizens refused to give them up. A few days later 
the citizens in arms escorted them back to West- 
minster. Charles left London rather than see the 
triumph of his enemies. 

6. Breach between the King and the Parliament. — 
For some months the king and the House of Com- 
mons argued with one another. The Commons did 
not trust the king. They thought he would bring 
foreign soldiers into England to attack them, and 
they asked him to let the Parliament appoint the 
officers of the militia. As there was no regular 
'army in England then, the country was defended by 
men who were drilled for a few days every year, and 
spent the rest of their time in looking after their 
farms or keeping their shops. These men were called 
the militia. If an enemy invaded the country these 
men were bound to come together to resist him. Up 



SECOJsD PERIOD. 231 

to this time their commanders had been appointed 
by the king, but the House of Commons were too 
much afraid of the king to allow these to be appointed 
by him any longer. Charles would not give up his 
right of appointing the officers. He went to York 
and summoned his faithful subjects to join him there. 




CAVALIER AND PURITAN. 



Nearly half the House of Commons and more than . 
half the House of Lords supported him. Some of 
these men were ready to fight for him because he 
was the king, but a great many more fought for 
him because they did not want to see the Prayer 
Book altered. At last, in August 1642, he set up 
his standard at Nottingham, ?. ^ a sign that he in- 



232 



OUTLINE OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 



tended to march against Parliament. The civil war 
had begun. Those who took the side of the king 
were known as Cavaliers, meaning horsemen, or 
gentlemen ; whilst those who took the side of the 




Parliament were nicknamed Koundheads, becaus® 
being Puritans they cut their hair short. 

7. The Beginning of the first Civil War. — For 

some time the King prospered. The first battle was 
fought at Edgehill. Neither side gained the victory, 
but as the Parliamentarians retreated, the king had 



SECOND PERIOD. 233 

the advantage. He entered Oxford and made it his 
head-quarters for the rest of the war. Then he 
marched towards London and reached Brentford. 
The citizens of London took arms and went to 
Turnham Green. The two armies looked at one 
another, but there was no fighting. If the king 
had taken London the war would have been over, as 
the London merchants were so rich that the ParHa- 
ment could not have paid its army without their 
help. The next year, 1643, sometimes one had the 
better, and sometimes the other. Hampden was 
killed on the side of the Parliament, and Falkland 
on the side of the king. On the whole, however, 
the king gained more than he lost. The whole of 
the north and west of England was in his hands. 
At the end of the year P}tii died worn out with 
anxiety. So little chance did the Parliament ap- 
pear to have that its leaders in\T.ted the Scots to 
help them. In 1644 the Scots crossed the border 
and joined an English army. The two forces to- 
gether completely defeated the king's army in the 
north at Marston Moor near York. From this time 
the king began to lose ground. 

8. Presbyterians and Independents. — Amongst 
the Puritans themselves there were now two parties. 
The greater number of the members of the House of 
Commons who had taken part against the king were 
Presbyterians. They had ordered that there should 
be no more bishops in the Church, and that the 
Prayer Book should not be used any more, but 
they were not at all wilHng that congregations 
should meet to hear doctrines preached of which 



234 OUTLINE OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

the Presbyterian clergy did not approve. There 
were, however, a few members who were called 
Independents. These thought that every congrega- 
tion should settle its own religion for itself, and 
that every man, or at least' every Puritan, should 
be free to worship Grod as he thought right. The 
head of this party was Oliver Cromwell. At the 
beginning of war he had been a captain in the army 
and had filled his company with Puritans who were 
determined to fight for their religion. As the war 
went on he became a general, and always filled his 
regiments with men of the same sort. He soon 
found that these men, though they were all Puritans, 
were not all agreed about religion. One soldier was 
a Baptist, another an Independent, another a Pres- 
byterian. Cromwell thought that when he made a 
man an officer he ought to take the best soldier, 
without asking what his religious opinions were, 
provided that he was a good man and a Puritan. 
He thought too that members of Parliament and 
persons in office in the State should be chosen in the 
same way. The Presbyterians did not like this, and 
thought that people who were not Presbyterians 
should not be allowed to have office, 

9. The Self-denying Ordinance and the New Model. 
— Most of the generals of the army were Presby- 
terians, and would rather have made an agreement 
with the king than have allowed Cromwell to do as 
he wished in this matter. As they did not want to 
beat the king too much, they did not beat him at 
all, and as most people were tired of the war, Crom- 
well was able to persuade Parliament to pass what 



SECOND PERIOD. 235 

was called the Self-denying Ordinance, which for- 
bade any member of Parliament to be also an officer 
in the army. As the chief Presbyterian generals 
were also members of Parliament, this made them 
give up their posts in the army. Cromwell was also 
a member of Parliament, but he was such a good 
general that he was allowed to remain as an officer. 
A new set of officers were appointed. The G-eneral was 
to be Fairfax, and the Lieutenant-General Cromwell. 
The army after this change was called the New Model. 
10. End of the First Civil War and the Ifegotiatioiis 
with the King. — The New Model met the king in 
1645 at Naseby, and defeated him utterly. The 
next year his condition was hopeless. He rode off 
to the Scots and surrendered himself to them. They 
wanted him to set up a Presbyterian church 
government in England. As he would not do this 
they gave him up to the English Parliament, which 
lodged him at Holmby House in Northamptonshiie. 
He had not been long there when the English army 
quarrelled with the Parliament., The Presbyterians 
in Parliament wanted to send the soldiers home with- 
out paying them. The soldiers said that they would 
not go home without being paid, and they also said 
that they had fought for their religion, and that they 
would remain armed till they were sure that they 
would be allowed to worship as they thought right. 
They marched to London and turned some of the lead- 
ing Presbyterians out of Parliament. The army was 
now master of England. Before this it had taken pos- 
session of the king, and had lodged him at Hampton 
Court. The officers offered to allow the worship of the 



236 



OUTLINE OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 



Church of England to be set up again, provided that no 
one was compelled to attend it who did not wish to do 
so, and that full religious liberty was granted to all 
Protestants. Charles would not hear of this, and 
soon afterwards he escaped to the Isle of Wight. 

11. The Second Civil War and the Execution of 
Charles I. — Charles was not allowed to remain at 
large. He was lodged in Carisbrook Castle, near 




CARISBROOK CASTLE. 



Newport. Persons were sent by the Parliament to 
negotiate with him. While Charles was arguing with 
them in a friendly way, he was preparing for a 
second civil war. In the spring there was an insur- 
rection in his favour in Wales, in Kent, and in Essex, 
A Scotch army, this time taking his part, invaded the 
north of England. Charles himself tried to escape 



SPXOND PERIOD. 237 

from Carisbrook by getting out of a barred window 
at night, but he found that the bars were too close 
for him to slip the whole of his body through, and 
after this he was more closely watched than he had 
been before. Fairfax put down the insurrection in 
Kent and Essex. Cromwell put it down in AYales and 
then marched northwards and caught the Scots at 
Preston, w^here he defeated them entirely. The 
soldiers came back from their victory with anger in 
their hearts against Charles. They felt that he had 
tricked them by raising war against them at a time 
when words of peace were in his mouth. They 
resolved to bring him to trial. To do this they 
wanted to find a court to sit in judgment on him. 
None of the judges would do anything of the 
kind. Parliament would not make a new court. 
The soldiers turned out about ninety members of 
the House of Commons, and those who were left 
did as they wished and voted that there should 
be a High Court of Justice to try the king, The 
House of Lords refused to have anything to do 
with the matter, and they were turned out too. 
When Charles was summoned before the new court 
he refused to answer. He said that it had no right 
to try him. He was nevertheless condemned to death, 
and his head was cut off on a scaffold outside the 
windows of his own palace at Whitehall. 



238 OUTLINE OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 



CHAPTER XXVIII. 

THE COMMONWEALTH AND THE 
PROTECTORATE. 

(1649-1660.) 

1. The Commonwealth. — The Grove rnment of 
England was now to be a Commonwealth ; that is to 
say, there was to be no king. The country was to be 
ruled by a few men who were chosen year by year by 
the body called the Parliament. In this Parliament, 
however, there was no House of Lords, and the House 
of Commons consisted of only about eighty members 
who had remained sitting, whilst the rest had either 
left Westminster to fight for the king in the course of 
the war, or had been turned out at different times by 
the soldiers. 

2. Cromwell in Ire land. — In the first year of the 
Commonwealth Cromwell was sent to Ireland. Ever 
since the rebellion in Ulster, eight years before, 
Ireland had been full of bloodshed. It is difficult to 
say which were most savage, the English or the Irish. 
Cromwell came to restore peace. There was a brutal 
slaughter by his orders of the defenders of Drogheda? 
and another brutal slaughter, not by his orders, of the 
defenders of Wexford. Others carried on the work 
which he had begun. Thousands of Irish were driven 
away from their homes to live as well as they could in 
the desolate regions of Connaught. There was peace 



SECO^^D PERIOD. 239 

in Ireland, but peace which was produced by mere 
conquest without justice was not likely to last long. 

3. The War with Scotland. — The next year Crom- 
well had to lead his army to Scotland. The Scots 
were shocked at the execution of the late kino- 
and they sent for his son, whom they crowned as 
Charles II. Cromwell was «hut up at Dunbar be- 
tween the sea and the hills on which the Scottish 
army lay. He could not fight and he could not get 
away. One day the Scottish army came down to- 
wards him. Early the next morning he fell upon it. 
' Let Grod arise, let his enemies be scattered,' he cried, 
as his troopers, never conquered yet, plunged into 
the ranks of their enemies. The Scots turned and 
fled, and the victory was won. Cromwell gained 
Edinburgh, but he did not gain all Scotland. In the 
next year, 1651, a Scottish army, taking young 
Charles with them, slipped past him and invaded 
England. They marched steadily southwards, call- 
ing on the English Eoyalists to join them. Crom- 
well was at their heels, and he caught them at 
Worcester, where he scattered them to the winds. 
' The dimensions of this mercy,' he wrote, ' are above 
my thoughts. It is, for aught I know, a crowning 
mercy.' Cromwell was right. As long as he Hved, 
neither Scots nor Eoyalists ever lifted up their heads 
again in England. The young king escaped to the 
Continent. At one time he hid himself in an oak 
whilst Cromwell's troopers were riding underneath. 

4. Expulsion of the Long Parliament. — The eighty 
members who called themselves a Parliament did not 
govern England well. They were fond of giving 



240 



OUTLINE OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 



offices to the friends and relations of the members 
and they were hard upon Eoyalists who did not 
bribe them. Cromwell wanted them to dissolve 
themselves and to order fresh elections ; but he and 
they did not agree upon the way in which these 




OLIVEB CEOMWELL, 

elections should be held. Besides this, they got 
into a war with the Dutch, which he did not like, 
because he did not like to see Protestant nations 
fighting with one another. One day in 1653 he 
came to the house, summoned in a number of soldiers, 
turned all the members out and locked the door. 



SECOND PEKIOD. 241 

Nobody ill England was sorry for what had happened, 
'We did not see a dog bark at their going,' said 
Cromwell not long afterwards. 

5. The Barebones Parliament. — Cromwell and the 
officers invited a number of men to meet together 
to consider what was to be done. This assembly, 
which was not a real Parliament, is generally known 
by the nickname of the Barebones Parliptment, after a 
certain Praise-Grod Barebones who was a member of 
it. It did not accomplish anything, but after sitting 
some months it gave up all its power to Cromwell. 

6. Cromwell's First Parliament. — Cromwell was 
now to be Lord Protector ; that is to say, he was to 
rule like a king without the title. He was to have 
a Parliament of one House. As soon as the Parlia- 
ment met, it began to be troublesome, and to want 
to settle everything in its own way. Cromwell 
dissolved it and tried to rule without it. 

7. Cromwell's Government. — At home Cromwell 
allowed all Puritans to worship as they liked. But he 
would not allow the members of the Church of England 
to meet to pray out of the Prayer Book, because he 
knew that they wanted to have the young king back to 
rule over them. Abroad he joined France in a war 
against Spain. His soldiers took part in a battle in 
which the Spaniards were beaten, and he received 
Dunkirk as a reward for the assistance which he gave. 
At sea Blake, the great sailor, was victorious over the 
Spaniards. Cromwell could do great things, but he 
was not liked by the mass of English people. He and 
the Puritans wanted everybody to be like themselves, 
and they tried to stop a great many amusements 

R 



242 OUTLINE OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

which they thought were wicked, but which are not 
thought wicked now. Cromwell knew that plots 
"v^ere constantly being formed against him, and he 
did all that he could to put them down, without 
caring whether what he w^as doing was lawful or not. 
Then too, as he had dismissed his Parliament, he 
gathered taxes which had never been voted by Parlia- 
ment at all. Still, he w^ould have been glad to have 
had a Parliament to support him, and he therefore 
summoned another. 

8. Cromwell's Second Parliament. — This time 
Cromwell drew up a list of those members who were 
likely to be troublesome, and would not let them 
come to the Parliament. As might be expected, 
those who were left in were more friendly to him 
than the last Parliament had been. They drew up 
what was called the Petition and Advice, in which 
they asked Cromwell to take the title of king, to 
add a House of Lords to the Parliament, and to re- 
nounce the power of excluding from the House of 
Commons members who had been duly elected. 
Cromwell refused to take the title of king, but agreed 
to the rest. When Parliament met again he found 
himself worse off than before. The House of Com- 
mons refused to pay any respect to the new lords, 
and would not attend to business. Cromwell dis- 
solved his second Parliament as he had dissolved his 
lirst. Very few people except the soldiers wished 
him well, and before the end of 1658 he died. He 
had tried to do his best as far as he understood it, 
but England did not like to be governed by a 
soldier. 



SECOND PEEIOD. 243 

9. Richard Cromwell's Protectorate and the re- 
stored Commonwealth. — Cromwell's eldest son Kichard 
succeeded his father as Protector. He was a good- 
natured man who never took any trouble about any- 
thing, and had no idea how to govern. He sum- 
moned a Parliament, and the Parliament supported 
him because its members wanted to be ruled by a 
man who was not a soldier. The soldiers demanded 
to have the right of naming their own general, so as 
to make themselves quite independent of Richard. 
When this w^as refused, they inarched to West- 
minster, and turned Eichard and his Parliament out 
of doors. They then brought back such of the 
members of the Parliament which had been turned 
out by Cromwell some years before as were still 
living. They soon found that these men were as 
resolved not to be managed by the soldiers as Rich- 
ard's Parliament had been, and they turned them 
out too. They tried to manage the government 
without a Parliament at all, but it was not long- 
before they found out that people would not pay 
taxes unless they were voted by a Parliament, and 
they brought back the members of the old Long 
Parliament once more. 

10. The Restoration. — In Scotland there was an 
English army commanded by George Monk. He 
was a silent man, w^ho did not care much about poli- 
tics, but who knew that Englishmen did not like to 
be governed by soldiers. He crossed the Tweed 
and marched for London, without letting any one 
know what he intended to do. When he arrived he 
found everything in confusion. After some hesita- 

R 2 



244 OUTLINE OF ENGLISH HISTOEY. 

tion he declared for a free Parliament, that is to 
say, for a Parliament from which no one who might 
be elected should be kept out by the soldiers, and 
which should decide matters as it thought right, 
whether the soldiers liked it or not. The old Long 
Parliament voted its own dissolution. A new Parlia- 
ment was chosen, and the young king was invited 
to come home, and to reign as Charles II. 



CHAPTEE XXIX. 

THE FIRST TWELVE YEARS OF 
CHARLES II. 

(1660-1672.) 

1. Character of Charles II. — There was a song 
which the Eoyalists had been in the habit of sing- 
ing, in which every verse ended with the words, 
' The king shall enjoy his own again.' Charles 
thought that his chief object in life was gained 
if he enjoyed his own. As he afterwards told his 
brother, he was resolved that whatever happened 
he would never go on his travels again. He 
liked pleasure, and his pleasure was usually of a 
very low and bad kind. He married a Portuguese 
princess, Catharine of Braganza, but he did not be- 
have at all well to her. He was witty, and was 
always pleased with the society of amusing people. 
His subjects called him the Merry Monarch. But 
he had no idea that it was right for a king to sacri- 



SECOND PEKIOD. 



245 



fice his time and his jests to do his duty. Indeed, 
he never understood that there was such a thing 
as duty at all. It was said of him that 



He never said a foolish thing, 
Nor ever did a wise one. 



Yet if he did not do wise acts, he was clever enough 




CHARLES II. AND CATHARINE OE BRAGANZA. 

to know when it would be hurtful to him to do fool- 
ish ones. When he saw that people were deter- 
mined to have their own way, he did not try to stop 
them, as his father would have done. In this way, 



246 OUTLINE OF ENGLISH HISTOKY. 

though nobody ever found out any good that he 
ever did, he managed to die in his bed in England, 
instead of having his head cut off, like his father, 
or being driven into exile, as his brother after- 
wards was. He was not the sort of man to care 
much about religion. Before he came back he had 




TROOPER OF HOES?^ (,UAKD.S, TIME OF CHARLES II. 

secretly acknowledged himself to be a Catholic, and 
he declared the same when he was dying. But he 
openly spoke of himself as a Protestant during his 
w^hole reign. 

2. The Army disbanded and the Judges of Charles I. 
executed. — AVhen Charles II. landed at Dover he was 
received with the greatest enthusiasm. ' It is my 



SECOND PERIOD. 247 

own fault,' he said, 'that I have not come back 
sooner, for I find nobody who does not tell me he 
has always wished for my return.' In reality it 
was the fault of the Puritan army. The strongest 
feeling amongst Englishmen then was dislike of 
an army which had enabled Cromwell to rule over 
them. They wanted to be again as they were in 
the old days before the Civil War, when there had 
been no soldiers in England except the farmers or 
shopkeepers, w^ho came out to be drilled for a few 
days in the year, and then went quietly to their 
work. Charles had therefore no difficulty in send- 
ing Cromwell's soldiers back to their homes. Only 
three regiments were kept, and these regiments were 
the beginning of the present royal army. Some 
of the men who had sat in the Court which con- 
(lenmed Charles I. to death, or had taken part against 
liiin very violently, were tried and executed. The 
bodies of Cromwell and of two others were actually 
dug up and hanged, though they had been dead some 
time. 

3. Treatment of the Puritans.— About a year after 
the King came back a new Parliament was elected. 
Scarcely any one was chosen to it who had not taken 
part with Charles I. It was therefore known as the 
Cavalier Parliament. When people have been very 
much frightened, they sometimes think that they 
can get rid by force of those who have frightened 
them. Englishmen had been very much frightened 
by the Puritans in Cromwell's time. Those who 
liked the old church service had not been allowed to 
have it, and those who did not care at all about 



248 OUTLINE OF EKGLLSH HISTORY. 

church services had been prevented from amusing 
themselves as they pleased. The Parliament and 
the people were, therefore, very angry with the 
Puritans. The bishops were restored, and the ser^ 
vices of the Church of England were again used in 
all the churches. Laws were passed which were ex- 
pected to make an end of the Puritans. All of the 
clergy who were unwilling to use the Prayer Book 
were turned out of their parishes. But they were 
not permitted to preach in chapels or even in private 
houses. No man was to be allowed to gather in his 
house for purposes of worship more than five persons 
beyond the members of his own family. Besides 
this, none of the Puritan clergy who had been turned 
out were to come within five miles of a town. It 
was believed that many more of the people who were 
willing to listen to them in private lived in the towns 
than in the country, and that, if the Puritan clergy 
were kept away from the towns, they would not be 
likely to find a congregation even in secret. The 
Parliament forgot that even harder laws had been 
made against the Catholics in Elizabeth's time, 
without putting an end to them, and that it was 
therefore not likely that these laws would put an 
end to the Puritans. The Puritans were very badly 
treated. They had by this time given up all hope of 
changing the prayers of the Church of England, and 
they therefore now only wished to be allowed to wor- 
ship without punishment in churches of their own. 
For this reason they were now called Dissenters, 
because they dissented from the Church, and wanted 
to sepprate from it. They were brave men, ready to 



SECOND PEEIOD. 249 

endure persecution rather than do what they thought 
to be wrong. 

4. John Bunyan. — Amongst these men was John 
Bunyan, who wrote the Pilgrim's Progress ' when 
he was imprisoned in Bedford Graol for his religioUo 
He was born in Bedfordshire, of very poor parents. 
As a young man he was irreligious, but he afterwards 
changed his character entirely. After the Restora- 
tion he was greatly persecuted, because be refused to 
go to church, and preached to congregations of his 
own. He was thrown into prison, and kept there 
more than twelve years. He was a tinker by trade, 
and he provided for himself in prison by making 
metal tags for the ends of laces. He wrote many 
religious books, the most famous of which is the 
' Pilgrim's Progress.' 

5. John Milton.— John Milton, the Puritan poet 
of England, published the ' Paradise Lost ' in the 
reign of Charles II. He had written many beautiful 
poems when he was a young man, in the time of 
Charles I. When the Long Parliament met, he 
thought it to be his duty to give up writing poems 
almost entirely, and to write books about the state of 
the Church. He thought that true religion was only 
hindered by the ceremonies used in the churches, 
and that the bishops were making men irreligious 
by making them use these ceremonies. He therefore 
wrote very violently against the bishops, and was 
very glad when the king was defeated. He admired 
Cromwell very much, and, though he was blind, he 
was employed in the time of the Commonwealth and 
Protectorate to write letters in Latin to foreign 



250 OUTLINE OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

princes. The Eestoration, when it came, made him 
very sad. After ' Paradise Lost' was finished he wrote 
a poem about Samson. His own blindness made him 
think of Samson's blindness at the end of his life; 
and when he wrote about the Philistines who ill- 




GEOEGE MONK, DUKE OF ALBBMAELE. 

treated Samson, he was thinking of the riotous 
courtiers of Charles II., who did such wicked things, 
6. Lord Chancellor Clarendon. — Soon after the 
Eestoration, Monk was made Duke of Albemarle, but 
he never had much to do with the Grovernment 
The man who managed business for the King at this 
time was the Hyde who had been one of the chief 



SECOND PERIOD. 251 

men of the Royalist party in the beginning of the Long 
Parliament. He was now made Earl of Clarendon and 
Lord Chancellor. He had been at the head of those 
who wished to restore the bishops. He thought that 
the King ought always to have a Parliament, but that 
under no circumstances should the Parliament take 
up arms against the king, whatever he might choose 
to do. This was what the Parliament itself thought 
at that time. People are very often inclined to be 
very violent in condemning things which their 
enemies do, and which they do not '■.hink of doing 
themselves ; and as it had been the Paritans who had 
fought against the King in the time of Charles L, 
it never entered into the heads of the Eoyalists that 
they themselves might some day want to resist him. 
They therefore condemned all persons who thought 
that any king ought ever to be resisted. 

7. The First Dutch War. — It was not long before 
even this Cavalier Parliament found out that the King 
deserved at least to be blamed. The Dutch were a 
great commercial people, with ships on every sea, 
England had now become commercial, and the two 
nations regarded one another with feelings as un- 
friendly as those of the owners of two shops which 
sell the same articles next door to one another. 
When nations are in a bad temper, they easily find 
an excuse for quarrelling, and so the English and 
the Dutch began a war in 1664. 

8. The Plague and the Pire of London. — In the 
hot summer of 1665 a terrible sickness broke out 
in London called the plague. It was an infectious 
disease, which had appeared in England several 



232 OUTLINE OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

times before, but it had never been so bad as it now 
was. The streets of London and of all other towns 
were narrow and dirty, and the upper storeys of the 
houses were made larger than the lower ones, so 
that those on one side of the street almost met those 
on the other, and left little room for fresh air to 
circulate. This was quite enough to make people 
ill. There was more sickness and there were more 
early deaths at that time than now. When any man 
caught the plague the doctors did not know how to 
do anything for him. A red cross was painted on 
the door of his house, and the w^ords, ' The Lord have 
mercy upon us ! ' were written above it. Then the 
house was shut up, and nobody was allowed to go in 
or to come out. Every one who could afford to 
leave London hurried into the country, leaving the 
poor to suffer. The dread of catching the plague 
spread far and wide. ' How fearful,' wrote one who 
lived at the time, ' people were, thirty, or forty, if 
not a hundred miles from London, of anything that 
they brought from any mercer's or draper's shop ; 
or of any goods that w^ere brought to them, or of 
any persons that came to their houses. How they 
would shut their doors against their friends ; and if 
a man passed over the fields, how one would avoid 
another.' . The deaths became so numerous that it 
was impossible to bury the dead in the usual w^ay. 
Carts went about the streets at night, preceded by 
a man ringing a bell, and calling out, ' Bring out 
your dead.' The corpses were thrown into a huge 
pit, because it was impossible to provide coffins for 
so many. Fires w^ere lit in the streets, under the 



SECOND PEEIOD, 253 

belief that the heat would keep off thb infection. 
At last winter came, and the plague came to an end 
with cooler weather. The next year another disaster 
befell the great city. A fire broke out when a strong 
wind was blowing, and quickly spread. It burnt for 
three days. All the City from the Tower to the 
Temple and from the Thames to Smithfield was 
absolutely destroyed. The old St. Paul's, the largest 
cathedral in England, perished in the flames. Great 
as the suffering caused by the fire was, it did good 
in the end, for it destroyed the old houses which 
kept the air out of the streets, so that the plague 
never came to London again. 

9. The Butch in the Medway. — The Dutch war 
went on all the while, with plenty of hard fighting 
at sea, and no very great success on either side. 
Parliament voted money to keep the fleets ready for 
fighting. After a little time, even the Eoyalists in 
the House of Commons began to suspect that the 
King spent some of this money on his own pleasures. 
Both in Parliament and out of it they began to 
grumble, and to say to one another that if Cromwell 
had been alive things would have been different. 
At last a misfortune came which increased their dis- 
content. Negotiations were opened at Breda, in 
Holland, and the terms of peace were almost settled. 
Before they were quite settled, Charles took it for 
granted that there would be no more war, and dis- 
missed most of the sailors, in order to get for himself 
the money which would have paid them. The 
Dutch at once sent their fleet up the Thames, where 
there was no English fleet to meet them. The 



254 OUTLINE OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

Dutoli ships sailed up the Medway, burnt three men* 
of- war, and carried off a fourth. For some time they 
blockaded the Thames, so that the Londoners could 
get no coals. Charles was obliged to give way to 
the Dutch, and peace w^as made at Breda, as they 
wished to have it. 

10. The Cabal Ministry. — In 1667, a few weeks 




DUTCH FLEET IN THE MEDWAY. 



after peace was made, Clarendon fell from power. 
The five ministers who had infiuence after him were 
Clifford, Arlington, Buckingham, Ashley, and Lauder- 
dale. The first letters of their names spelled the 
word Cabal, a v/ord which was at that time applied 
to any body of men specially consulted by the King 
on state affairs. They are therefore known in 
history as the Cabal Ministry. Lauderdale was a 



SECOND PERIOD. 255 

Scotchman, and was chiefly employed about Scotch 
business. The others wanted to tolerate othei 
religions than the Church of England, allowing con- 
gregations to worship separately in churches of their 
own. The House of Commons did not want to have 
toleration at all, and it was much less likely to allow 
it to the Catholics than to the Dissenters. The 
Catholics were more disliked and more feared. There 
was now a very powerful king in France, Lewis XIV., 
who had very large armies and skilful generals, as 
well as plenty of money, and people in England 
thought that he w^as likely to send his soldiers to 
England to help the Catholics against the Protestants. 
Charles himself was first cousin to Lewis, as his 
mother, Henrietta Maria, had been the sister of 
Lewis's father, and he had lived a long time in 
France during his exile. He therefore did not feel 
at all ashamed to ask Lewis to help him to carry out 
his plans when his own people were against them, 
or even to take money from Lewis, to enable him to 
do as he liked, without having to ask his Parliament 
for more taxes. 

11. The Triple Alliance and the Treaty of Dover. — 
What Charles now wanted was to be independent of 
Parliament, and to get as much money as he could. 
A little time before he had made a treaty with the 
Dutch and the Swedes, known as the Triple Alliance, 
by which the three nations bound themselves to join 
together to stop Lewis from making any more 
conquests. Not long afterwards Lewis persuaded 
Charles to break off from his new friends, and to sign 
the Treaty ef Dover, which bound Charles to join 



256 OUTLINE OF ENGLKK HISTOEY. 

Lewis in making war against the Dutch. Charles 
was also to declare himself a Catholic, and to receive 
money from Lewis. Lewis even promised to send 
French soldiers into England, if Charles thought 
that he wanted them to put down any resistance 
from his own subjects. The treaty was to be a 
profound secret. It was impossible to speak of 
it openly without producing a general rebellion. 
Charles did not even tell all of his own ministers. 
Two of them, Clifford and Arlington, who were 
Catholics, knew all about it. The others, who were 
Protestants, only knew that there was going to 
be a war with the Dutch, and that the King was 
about to give permission to his subjects to worship 
as they pleased. 

12. The Beclaration of Indulgence and the Second 
Dutch War. — Charles did not after all venture to 
announce that he was a Catholic, but in 1672 he 
declared war against the Dutch, and he issued a 
Declaration of Indulgence, giving orders that the 
laws against the Catholics and the Dissenters should 
no longer be put in execution. Parliament was 
furious. The Commons were much less disposed to 
respect the King than they had been at the time of 
the Eestoration, twelve years before, but they were 
quite as much disposed to refuse permission to any- 
body who was not a member of the Church of 
England to worship as he thought right. They de- 
clared that Charles had no right to refuse to execute, 
the law, and the great body of the people thought 
so too. Charles did not persist in his own way. He 
did not want to have another rebellion, to be driven 



SECOND PERIOD. 257 

into exile, or to lose his head, as his father had done. 
He withdrew the Declaration, and the Prayer Book 
of the Church of England was again the only form 
of public prayer allowed in the land. Those who 
wished to join in prayer in any other way had to do 
it by stealth. 



CHAPTEE XXX. 
THE LAST TWELVE YEARS OF CHAELES II. 

(1673-1685.) 

1. The Test Act.— Though the Treaty of Dover 
had been kept a secret, yet people suspected that 
there was something arranged of which they did not 
know. They were determined that the Catholics 
should not become powerful, and a law was made 
called the Test Act, which required every person 
appointed to any office either in the army and navy 
or in the state to receive the Sacrament from a 
minister of the Church of England. He was also to 
declare his disbelief in one of the most important 
doctrines of the Eoman Catholic Church, so as to 
test whether he really belonged to that Church 
or not. This Act put an end to the Cabal ministry. 
Clifford and Arlington refused to take the test, 
and Charles turned Ashley, who had been lately 
made Earl of Shaftesbury, out of office. There had 
been a quarrel between them, probably because 
Shaftesbury had found out the secret of the Treaty 
of Dover, and had been angry at having been duped, 

s 



258 



OUTLINE OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 



From this time Shaftesbury did everything in his 
power to attack the King. He did his best to 
secure toleration for the Dissenters, and to prevent 
the Catholics from having any at all. People were 
the more afraid of seeing the Catholics in office, be- 
cause the King's brother James, Duke of York, who 





COUET AND CITY COSTUME, TIME OF CHARLES 11. 



was heir to the throne, had become a Catholic, and 
they thought that if he became King he might do 
some harm 1 o the Church of England. 

2. Danby's Ministry. — Charles now gave his con- 
fidence to the Earl of Danby. Danby was in all 
things in agreement with the House of Commons. 



SECOND PEKIOD. 259 

At home he would hear nothing of any toleration 
for Catholics or Dissenters. Abroad he would give 
no support to the King of France. After a little 
time peace was made with the Dutch, and not long 
afterwards Charles gave his consent to a marriage 
which produced most important consequences. The 
Duke of York had no sons. His two daughters^ 
Mary and Anne, both of whom afterwards became 
Queens, were Protestants. Mary was now married 
to her first cousin, William, Prince of Orange, who, as 
being the son of the King's eldest sister, was the 
heir to the throne after the Dake of York and his 
daughters. William of Orange was the chief magis- 
trate of the Dutch Eepublic, and was the leader of 
the Kings and Princes of Europe who had been 
struggling to free themselves from the ill-treatment 
which they were constantly receiving from Lewis 
XIV. By favouring this marriage, therefore, Danby 
provided that, after the death of Charles and his 
brother, the new Queen should have a husband who 
was a thorough Protestant, and would also be certain 
not to be on friendly terms with the King of France. 
It was not likely, however, that for the present 
England would engage in war. Charles was too 
dependent on the French king to wish to quarrel 
with him, especially as Lewis was always ready to 
give him money when the Commons were stingy. 
On the other hand, the Commons did not like to go 
to war even with France, because they were afraid 
that if Charles had a large army he would use it 
against them as soon as the war was over. 

3. The Popish. Plot. — Just at the time when men 



260 OUTLINE OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

were suspicious of the King, and knew not whom to 
trust, a story was told which threw the whole country 
into a fever of excitement. A certain Titus Gates 
came forward to state that he had been a Catholic, 
and had lately been converted to Protestantism, 
He asserted that some Catholics had formed a plot 
to kill the King. He was examined by a magistrate 
named Sir Edmund Bury Grodfrey. Not long after- 
wards Grodfrey was found murdered near Primrose 
Hill. Some people said that the Catholics had mur- 
dered him, because he had accepted Oates's story as 
true. At once Parliament and people became furious 
with excitement. There was scarcely a Protestant 
in England who did not believe in the reality of the 
Popish Plot, as it was called. What was first talked 
of as a plot to murder the King, was soon talked of 
as a plot for ' rooting out and destroying the Pro- 
testant religion,' and for massacring thousands of 
innocent people. Men went about armed, to protect 
themselves against an imaginary enemy. Gates, 
who was a horrible liar, profited by the credulity 
of the people, and swore to the truth of charges 
of the most dreadful kind against innocent people, 
especially Catholics. Judges and juries were ready 
to believe every word that he said, and never 
thought of asking whether the testimony that he 
gave one day agreed with the testimony that he 
gave another. A large number of persons who were 
perfectly innocent were put to death as contrivers 
of the plot, or as having taken a part in Godfrey's 
murder. So popular was Gates that his friends kept 
him in luxury, whilst he was swearing away the lives 



SECOND PERIOD. 261 

of men whom he was unworthy to approach. Whilst 
the mass of his supporters were merely credulous, 
there were politicians who helped him because they 
thought to get an advantage from this excitement in 
their struggle with the king. Shaftesbury, who was 
now the leader of the opposition, did everything in 
his power to encourage a belief in the reality of the 
Popish Plot. 

4. The Exclusion Bill.— At last, in 1679, the 
Cavalier Parliament was dissolved, after sitting for 
seventeen years and a half. Danby's ministry came 
to an end. In three years there were three Parlia- 
ments, known as the three Short Parliaments of 
the reign of Charles II. In each of these Parlia- 
ments Shaftesbury's friends had a large majority. 
They determined that, if they could possibly contrive 
it, the Duke of York should never reign. They 
brought in an Exclusion Bill to exclude all Eoman 
Catholics from the succession. The first Short 
Parliament was dissolved by the king because the 
Commons would not give up the Exclusion Bill. In 
the second Short Parliament the Commons passed the 
Bill. In the House of Lords, it was opposed by Hali- 
fax, a man of great ability, who was in the habit of 
changing sides from one party to another, always leav- 
ing his party when it was strong, and when it pre- 
sumed on its strength to act harshly and tyrannically. 
He called himself a trimmer, because, as he said, his 
business was like that of a man who trims a boat by 
moving from one side to the other to keep it on an 
even keel. It was not merely to the Exclusion Bill 
that he objected. He knew that Shaftesbury pro- 



262 OUTLINE OF ENGLISH HISTOEY. 

posed to give the Crown after Charles's death, not 
to the next Protestant heir Mary, the eldest daughter 
of James and the wife of the Prince of Orange, but 
to the Duke of Monmouth, an illegitimate son 
of Charles II., who had no claim to the Crown what- 
ever. Halifax thought that it would be dangerous to 
make such a change as this. It was quite possible 
that after all James might die before his brother, 
and, even if he did not, he was not likely to out- 
live him long. He thought therefore that it was 
better to run any risk that might come from having 
a Catholic king for a few years, and to look forward 
to the peaceful succession of ]Mary at the end of them. 
He persuaded the House of Lords to agree with him, 
and the Lords threw out the Bill. The third Short 
Parliament w^as summoned to Oxford. The followers 
of Shaftesbury came with arms in their hands to de- 
fend themselves against danger. They insisted on 
having the Exclusion Bill, and Charles dissolved this 
Parliament as he had done the others. 

6. Whigs and Tories. — The two parties had now 
the names of Whig and Tory, which remained to 
them for a century and a half. The two names were 
at first given as nicknames. Whig is a Scotch word, 
meaning whey or sour milk, and was first given in 
Scotland to some people in the West of Scotland who 
had lately been rebelling against the Government. 
When the friends of the Duke of York called Shaftes- 
bury's followers Whigs, they meant to say that they 
were no better than the Scotch rebels. The word 
Tory came from Ireland, Irish robbers were called 
Tories, and the opponents of the Duke of York called 



SECOND PERIOD. 263 

his followers Tories, meaning that they were enemies 
of the Protestants, like the Irish robbers. After a 
little time these names w^ere accepted by the parties to 
which they had been at first applied in contempt, and 
men boasted of being Whigs or Tories without think- 
>ing what the words originally meant. 

6. Violence of the Tories, and the Rye House 
Plot. — After the dissolution of the third Short 
Parliament in 1681, the Tories had it all their own 
way. The Whigs had been strong for a time, because 
very few Englishmen wished to have a king who was 
a Catholic. But there was one thing which they 
liked less, and that was another Civil War. In 1681 
only thirty-nine years had passed since the Civil War 
began, and men who were not very old could remem- 
ber all the misery of that sad time. When, there- 
fore, it was known that the Whigs had ridden armed 
into Oxford and had been talking about forcing the 
king to do as they wished, whether he liked it or 
not, sober men who did not usually care much about 
politics resolved that James should not be excluded 
from the throne. They would rather have a Catho- 
lic king than see another Puritan army governing 
England, and perhaps Shaftesbury as a new Lord 
Protector. People almost forgot their fright about 
the Popish Plot in their fright about a Whig insurrec- 
tion. Whigs, who had threatened and persecuted 
the Catholics, found themselves threatened and per- 
secuted in turn. Judges bullied them, and juries 
found verdicts against them without much regard 
for justice. 

7. Forfeiture of the London Charter. — An accusa- 



264 OUTLINE OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

tion was then brouglit against Shaftesbury. Tk^ 
grand jury, whose business it was to say whether he 
was to be tried or not, would not allow him to be 
tried. The fact was, that the juries were chosen by 
the sheriffs, and that in those days a sheriff would 
choose a jury which was likely to condemn a man 
whom he disliked, and to let off a man whom he 




SHEEIFF OF LONDON TIME OF CHARLES II. 

liked. Shaftesbury had to be tried in Middlesex, if 
he was tried at all, and the sheriffs chosen by the 
City of London were then, as they are now, sheriffs 
for the whole county of Middlesex. Charles was so 
angry when he heard that Shaftesbury had got off in 
this way that he ordered his lawyers to try and find 
out some mistake in the Charter of the City. The 



SECOND PERIOD. 265 

Charter was the parchment on which was written 
the grant to it by former kings to elect magistrates 
and to govern itself. The lawyers managed to find out 
that there was something wrong in the Charter, and 
the judge before whom the matter was brought said 
so too. The king, therefore, took away the Charter, 
and appointed the Lord Mayor and sheriffs himself. 
After this Shaftesbury knew that the new sheriffs 
would be sure to choose a jury which would condemn 
him. He therefore fled to Holland, where he soon 
afterwards died. 

8. The Rye House Plot. — About this time some 
Whigs, bold with anger, formed a plot to murder the 
king and his brother at the Rye House on their 
return from Newmarket. The plot was discovered, 
and the plotters fled or were arrested and executed. 

9. The Execution of Lord Russell. — Those who had 
taken part in the Rye House Plot were men of no 
note, and the Tories wished to strike down the 
leaders of the Whigs. Those leaders had been con- 
cerned in a scheme for calling on all who agreed with 
them to form an association which was to demand 
the summoning of another Parliament, and some of 
them were of opinion that, if their demand were re- 
fused, the association should use force to compel the 
King to accede to it, though they do not seem to 
have made up their minds how the force was to be 
employed. Their design was discovered, and the 
chief Whigs wxre, in the King's name, brought to trial 
on the charge that they had taken part, not merely in 
a political agitation, but even in the Rye House Plot. 
The Earl of Essex committed suicide in prison. 



266 OUTLINE OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

Lord Russell and Algernon Sidney were condemned 
and executed. Russell's case excited more than 
usual sympathy amongst his party. He was an up- 
right, conscientious man. He iirmly believed that if 
a Catholic were to succeed to the throne, English 
liberty would no longer be secure. If he did not 
think that all Titus Gates' lies were true, he thought 
that they were founded on reality. ' As for the share 
I had in the prosecution of the Popish Plot,' he 
declared on the scaffold, ' I take God to witness that 
I proceeded in it in the sincerity of my heart, being 
then really convinced, as I am still, that there was a 
conspiracy against the King, the nation, and the 
Protestant religion.' In those days the risk run 
by even an innocent prisoner tried for high treason 
was much greater than it is now. He was not allowed 
to have a lawyer to argue for him, and was thus 
obliged to conduct his own defence. Shortly before 
his trial Russell received a letter from his wife. 
' Your friends,' she wrote, ' believing I can do you 
some service at your trial, I am extremely willing 
to try. My resolution will hold out ; pray let yours.' 
When the court was opened, this true-hearted wife 
sat by his side taking notes of all that was said, and 
helping her husband whenever his memory failed him. 
10. The Last Days of Charles II.- — All this while 
Charles did not think of summoning a Parliament. 
There were some, however, even amongst his sup- 
porters who advised him to do it. Halifax, who had 
joined the Tories when the Whigs were violent, was 
now growing uncomfortable at the violence of his 
new friends. He urged the king to call Parliament 



SECOND PERIOD. ■ 261 

No dop.bt the king would have had a majority on 
his side. The people were still angry with the 
Whigs. Charles, however, hesitated. The king of 
France, who knew that Charles would never make 
war against him, and that a Parliament might pos- 
sibly do so, kept him well supplied with money. 
Before Charles could make up his mind what to do 
he was taken ill. He was soon known to be dying. 
Sancroft, the Archbishop of Canterbury, spoke plainly 
to him. ' It is time,' he said, ' to speak out ; for, sir, 
you are about to appear before a Judge who is no 
respecter of persons.' The king took no notice. 
After a time the Duke of York came to his bedside 
The bishops and the courtiers were bidden to leave 
the room. A priest was fetched, and Charles, on his 
death-bed, acknowledged the authority of the Church 
of Rome. He lingered yet for some little time, and 
begged pardon of those around him. He had been, 
ne said, an unconscionable time in dying, but he 
hoped they would excuse it. 



CHAPTER XXXI. 
THE REIGN OF JAMES II. 

(1685-1688.) 

1. James II. and Monmoutli's Hebellion. — The 

new king began his reign in 1685 under favourable 
circumstances. He announced that he intended to 
support and defend the English Church, though he 



268 



OUTLINE OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 



clearly showed by attending the public celebration ot 
the Mass at his chapel at Whitehall that he meant to 
cleave to his own religion. A new Parliament was 
summoned, and was thoroughly loyal. James would 
have had no difficulty in governing England, if he 
had been able to convince his subjects that, though 
he refused to persecute the Catholics, he would do 




nothing to place them in authority. It was not long 
before the loyalty of his subjects was put to the test. 
Many of the Whigs who had taken part in the 
schemes formed by their party in the last reign were 
living in exile in Holland, and they fancied that 
they had only to return to England to rouse the 
whole nation against James. JMonmouth placed 
himself at the head of these men, and landed at 



SECOND PEEIOD. 269 

Lyme, in Dorsetshire. By the peasants and the 
shopkeepers he was received with the greatest 
enthusiasm. But the gentlemen and the clergy 
were all on the side of the king. For the time, how- 
ever, they could do nothing against Monmouth, 
The common people pressed in multitudes to see 
him, and some of them took arms in his cause. He 
entered Taunton in triumph, and marched eastward 
as far as Philip's Norton. By this time the Eoyal 
army was hastening towards him, whilst the Tory 
nobles and squires gave their zealous aid to the 
king. Monmouth retreated to Bridgewater. He 
rode out with his troops in the night time in the 
hope that he might take his enemy by surprise. 
He was stopped by a deep ditch full of water. After 
a gallaDt struggle his men were slain or fled. Mon- 
mouth escaped, and wandered about till he was 
discovered half-starved and hiding in a ditch. He 
was carried to London and executed. 

2. The Bloody Assizes. — The rebellion was at an 
end. Large numbers of the rebels were hung at 
once without form of trial. Then Jeffreys, a wicked 
and cruel judge, came down to the West to hold 
what will always be known as the Bloody Assizes. 
At Winchester he condemned to death an old lady, 
Alice Lisle, who was guilty of no more than of 
hiding in her house two poor men who were flying 
from vengeance. At Dorchester 74 persons were 
hanged. Tn Somersetshire no less than 233 were 
put to death. Jeffreys overwhelmed the prisoners 
with scornful mockery. One of them pleaded that 
he was a good Protestant. ^ Protestant ! ' cried 



270 OUTLINE OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

Jeffreys; 'you mean Presbyterian, I'll hold you a 
wager of it. I can smell a Presbyterian forty miles.' 
Some one tried to move his compassion in favour of 
a perscTn who was miserable enough already. ' My 
lord,' he said, ' this poor creature is on the parish.' 
' Do not trouble yourselves ' was the only answer 
which they got, ' I will ease the parish of the burden,' 




LOfiD Clir.'.F JUoTUa TIME OF JAMES II. 

and ordered him to be hanged at once. The whole 
number of those who perished in the Bloody Assizes 
was 320, whilst 841 were transported to the West 
India Islands to work hard under a broiling sun till 
they died. James welcomed Jeffreys on his return, 
and made him Lord Chancellor as a reward for his 
deeds. 



SECOND PERIOD. 271 

3. The Test Act violated. — To all that was being 
done against the rebels Parliament made no objec- 
tion. But there was one thing which the king did 
which was called in question in the House of Commons. 
He had appointed some Catholic officers in the army, 
and had excused them from taking the test ordered 
by the Test Act. The Commons saw that if the 
king could thus dispense with the Test Act in a 
few cases, he might dispense with it in many. In 
fact, there would be nothing to prevent him from 
filling all the offices in th^ State and in the army 
with Catholics. They thought that in this way he 
might do as he liked with his Protestant subjects, 
just as Cromwell and his Puritan army had done as 
they liked. The Commons remonstrated, and asked 
that the king should observe the law in future. James 
grew very angry, and put an end to the session of 
Parliament. 

4. Tlie Dispensing Power. — James thought that 
he had a right to dispense with the laws when he 
saw fit. He resolved to ask the judges whether he 
had this right or not. But he was resolved to have 
his question answered in his own way. In those 
days a king might turn out of office a judge when- 
ever he liked to do it. James turned out four of the 
judges who would have given an opinion against him, 
and those whom he appointed in their stead were quite 
ready to declare in his favour. In this way he got a 
declaration from the judges that he had a right to 
dispense with the test as required by law. If this 
answer was right, he could do whatever he pleased, 
whether it were lawful or not. 



272 OUTLINE OF ENGLISH HISTOEY. 

5. The Declaration of Indulgence. — James was 
most anxious to obtain an Act of Parliament putting 
an end to the Test Act altogether. He knew that 
he could not live many years, and that as soon as he 
was dead his daughter Mary would be queen, and 
would appoint, judges to decide in a very different 
way from that in which his own judges had decided. 
He therefore sent for the principal members of both 
Houses, and spoke with them privately in the closet, 
as it was called, that is to say, in his own private 
room. These closetings, as they were called, had no 
effect. Member after member told the king that they 
would do anything to please His Majesty w^hich their 
conscience allowed, but that their conscience did not 
allow them to vote for the repeal of the Test Act. 
James then resolved to do by his own power what he 
could not do by Act of Parliament. He issued a 
Declaration of Indulgence, announcing that all his 
subjects. Dissenters as well as Catholics, were free 
to worship as they pleased and to hold offices 
without taking any kind of test. The king hoped 
that he would gain the Dissenters to his side. Some 
of these, indeed, accepted his offer with thankfulness ; 
but the greater part of them did not like even so 
great a boon coming in such a way. They thought 
that if the king could announce that certain law^s 
were not to be obeyed, he might announce that all 
laws were not to be obeyed. They listened to those 
leaders of the Church of England who assured them 
that, whatever happened, they would be safe, and that 
the next Parliament which met would pass an Act 
grcvnting them the toleratipji which they needed 



SECOND PERIOD. 273 

jMembers of tlie Church of England and Dissenters 
joined to resist the king. They distrusted and dis- 
liked the Catholics, and they were reasonably afraid 
lest the king should make a bad use of the power 
which he was trying to gain. 

6. The Expulsion of the Fellows of Magdalen. — It 
was not long before James offended the greater part 
of his subjects even more than he had already done. 
The two Universities of Oxford and Cambridge were, 
at that time, the only places where young men could 
receive a good education after they had become too 
old to remain any longer at school. At these Uni- 
versities no one could teach who was not a member 
of the Church of England. The consequence was 
that no man who was not a member of that Church 
could have his son well educated, unless he were rich 
enough to pay a private tutor. James wished that 
there should be a way in which Catholics at least 
should be educated in their own religion. In order 
that this might be done, he contrived that two of the 
colleges at Oxford should be governed by Catholics. 
He was not satisiied with this, and when the Presi- 
dent of Magdalen College died James sent orders to 
the Fellows, who had the right of choosing a new 
President, to choose a Catholic. The Fellows met 
and chos8 a Protestant. They told James that they 
had acted according to law, and that they would not 
obey any one but the man whom they had lawfully 
chosen. James turned them out of the College, and 
left them to beg their bread. They were not allowed 
to starve. They were invited to live in the houses 
of country gentlemen, who were glad to have this 

'V 



274 OUTLINE OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

opportunity of showing how much they respected 
them for resisting the king. There can be no 
doubt that they were right in resisting him. It 
would have been a good thing if everybody could 
have been educated in his own religion ; but it 
would have been a very bad thing if the king could 
have done as he pleased, whatever the law might 
say. If the king could give up three colleges at 
Oxford to the Catholics, he might have given up all 
the colleges at both Universities, and have left the 
Protestants without education. It was now certain 
that the Protestants would do all they could to pre- 
vent this. 

7. The Trial of the Seven Bishops. — After this 
James gave orders that his Declaration of Indulgence 
should be read to the people by the clergymen in all 
the churches. Most clergymen thought that the 
declaration was against the law, and even wrong in 
itself. Seven of the bishops signed a petition to the 
king asking him not to force the clergymen to act 
against their consciences. The king w^as very angry, 
and he was more angry when the day came on which 
he had ordered that the declaration should be read. 
Scarcely a clergyman in the whole of England 
obeyed the king's orders, and in some places where 
a clergyman was found to read the declaration the 
congregation walked out of the church rather than 
listen to it. The king ordered that the seven 
bishops should be tried for having published a sedi- 
tious libel, that is to say, a paper in which falsehood 
is told with the object of bringing about resistance 
to the Government. The trial lasted durinof a whole 



SECOND PERIOD. 



275 



day. The lawyers who were engaged for the bishops 
showed that their petition was not a libel at all. 
The jury left the Court to determine upon the 
verdict. At first nine of them were for the bishops 
and three were for the king. Two of these latter 
gave way, and only one was left who w^as against the 




A BISHOP. LORD KREPFE OF THE GREAT 

SEAL TIME OF JAMES II. 

bishops. This was Arnold, who was the king's 
brewer. ' Whatever I do,' he had said, before the 
trial began, ' I am sure to be half-ruined. If I say 
"• Not Gruilty," I shall brew no more for the king ; and 
if I say " Guilty," I shall brew no more for anybody 
else.' He seems to have made up his mind that the 
king's custom was worth more than that of the rest 

T 2 



276 OUTLINE OF ENGLISH HISTOEY. 

of the world. Another gentleman named Austin 
proposed to argue with him. Arnold said that he 
did not want to hear arguments. ' If you come to 
that,' answered Austin, ' look at me. I am the largest 
and strongest of this twelve, and before I find such 
a petition as this a libel, here I will stay till I am 
no bigger than a tobacco pipe.' Before this threat 
Arnold gave way after a struggle lasting all through 
the night, and when the Court assembled in the 
morning the verdict of ' Not Gruilty ' was given in. 
Crowds in Westminster Hall and in the streets 
around shouted for joy. At Hounslow, w^here James 
had formed a camp, the very soldiers, with whose 
help James hoped to put down all resistance, shouted 
like the rest. James, who was there, asked what it 
all meant. ' Nothing,' he was told, ' the soldiers are 
glad that the bishops are acquitted.' * Do you call 
that nothing ? ' h-e answered. ' So much the worse 
for them.' 

8. The Invitation to the Prince of Orange. — The 
acquittal of the bishops took place on June 30, 1688. 
On the same day a message was sent to William of 
Orange by seven noblemen and gentlemen, some of 
them Whigs and some of them Tories, to request 
him to come to England to save the laws and liberties 
of the nation. There was a reason why this had not 
been done before. It had lately been announced that 
a son and heir had been born to James. Before that 
birth everyone knew that, whenever James died, the 
Crown would pass to a Protestant successor, the Prin- 
cess of Orange, and that everything that James had 
done would speedily be undone. They now knew that 



SECOND PERIOD. 277 

the heir was an infant who would certainly be brought 
up in his father's belief, and who would, when he 
became a man, act exactly in the same way that his 
father had acted. As people are very apt to dis- 
believe what it is to their interest to disbelieve, 
most men repeated with firm conviction a story 
that the infant was not the son of the kinpf and 
queen, but was some one else's child who had been 
brought into the palace by stealth. William of 
Orange, whether he believed this or not, was resolved 
to accept the invitation. He collected a fleet and a 
small army, and landed at Torbay. He marched 
towards London. After a little time, men of rank 
began to join him. Very soon there were insurrec- 
tions in the North and centre of England. James's 
own officers deserted to William, and James soon 
discovered that scarcely a man in England was likely 
to draw sword for him. Even then, if he could have 
given up all his plans, he might have continued to 
reign. But he could not make up his mind to do this 
He attempted to fly to France, but was brought back. 
William was far too wise to wish to stop him. He 
did not want to keep him as an interesting prisoner 
like Mary Queen of Scots, or to cut off his head that 
peopl e might talk of him s a royal martyr, as they 
had talked of Charles I. He therefore gave him every 
opportunity to fly. This time James got safely away. 
He reached France, where Lewis XIV. received him 
kindly. He was never again to set foot in England. 



278 OUTLIiNE OF ENGLISH HISTORY, 

CHAPTER XXXII. 
WILLIAM AND MARY. 

(1G89-1694.) 

1. The Revolution and the Toleration Act. — Soon 
after James was gone, a Parliament met. After 
much discussion it declared that James had given 
up the Crown by governing badly and by leaving 
England. It then offered the throne which had thus 
become vacant to William and Mary. They were to 
be joint sovereigns. Mary's head was to appear on the 
coins, and to be named in all public announcements 
together with that of her husband, but as long as they 
both lived .William alone was to govern. If either of 
them died the other was to continue to reign, and 
when they were both dead, unless they left children, 
the Crown was go to Mary's sister, the Princess Anne. 
All this was settled by Parliament, and Parlia- 
ment was able to do very much as it thought right. 
The king and queen were on the throne because 
Parliament had put them there, and not because 
they were born to \t. If Parliament declared 
against them they would hardly be able to keep 
themselves there. One of the first consequences of 
the change was the passing of the Toleration Act. 
The Dissenters at last got permission by law to 
worship in their own chapels. The Catholics did 
not get permission to do the same. People were 
afraid of them and angry with them, as they had 



SECOND PERIOD. 



279 



been with the Dissenters after the Kestoration. 
They were therefore determined to keep them down. 
Yet it was not long before they found out that there 
were not enough of them to be afraid of, and so after 
a time the Catholics got toleration as well as the 
Dissenters, and were allowed to worship in their 




WILLIAM III. 



own way, though it was a very long time before they 
were allowed to hold offices. 

2. The War in Scotland. —William knew that he 
would have to fight for his Crown. He was himself 
at the head of a number of States on the Continent 
which were at war with the king of France, and 
Lewis XIV. was sure to do all that he could do to 
overthrow him in England. In Scotland the greater 
part of the people took William's side. Lord Dundee,, 



280 OUTLINE OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

a brave soldier, who was one of James's supporters, 
went into the Highlands, and got together an army 
of Highlanders, who were very fond of fighting, and 
who, being very poor in their wild mountains, were 
glad of an excuse to plunder the Lowlands. Dundee 
drew up his Highlanders at the top of a steep 
ascent through the pass of Killiecrankie, near Blair 
Athol. William's troops came panting up the hill 
in a hot summer day. When they drew near the 
top the Highlanders rushed down, slashing them 
with their broadswords. The soldiers turned and 
fled with the Highlanders after them. Dundee 
was shot before the flight began, and the High- 
landers went back to their homes to carry off their 
plunder. Soon afterwards William's ofiicers placed 
soldiers in forts near the places where the High- 
landers were likely to come out, and gave presents 
to the chiefs, so that there was no more war in 
Scotland for a long time. 

3. The Massacre of Glencoe. — The Highland chiefs 
were required to swear that they would live peace- 
ably in the future. They had to take the oath by 
certain day. When that day came, all had sworn 
except one. That one was Mac Ian of Glencoe, a 
rocky and desolate valley in the Western Highlands. 
Mac Ian was an old man, the chief of a small clan. 
He had intended to take the oath, but he thought 
it would be a very grand thing to take it as late as 
possible, after all the great chiefs had sworn. Un- 
luckily for him, he went to swear at a place where 
there was no one appointed to receive his oath. He 
at once went on to another place, where he took the 



SECOND PEEIOD. 



281 



oath in a proper manner, but by the time he arrived 
the appointed day was past. Unfortunately for 
Mac Ian, the Master of Stair, who governed Scot- 
land for Wilham, was deh'ghted to find an excuse 




for punishing him. He knew that Highlanders 
were always ready to fight, and to rob, and that 
Mac lan's clan was rather more, ready to carry off 
cattle from the Lowlands than other Highlanders, 



282 OUTLINE OF ENGLISH HISTOEY. 

He determined to make an example of them. He 
got permission from William ' to extirpate that set 
of thieves.' He proceeded to do his cruel work 
in a particularly cruel and treacherous manner. 
He sent soldiers to Glencoe. These soldiers came 
under pretence of being friendly with the inhabit- 
ants. They lived amongst them, ate at their tables, 
laughed and played at cards with them. Early one 
morning, whilst it was yet dark, the soldiers sur- 
rounded the huts of those with whom they had made 
merry the evening before, dragged them out of their 
beds and murdered them, or shot them down as they 
attempted to fly. Many, indeed, contrived to escape ; 
but it was bitter winter weather, and not a few of 
those w^ho escaped died of cold and hunger amongst 
the snows in which they sought shelter. It is not 
likely that the Massacre of Grlencoe will ever be 
forgotten in Scotland. 

4. The Siege of Londonderry. — The war in Ireland 
lasted longer than that in Scotland. Though there 
were many persons there of English descent, the 
mass of the people were Irish by birth and Catholic 
by religion. They had been treated badly by Crom- 
well, and after the Restoration they were not much 
better treated by Charles II. When James II. had 
tried to make changes in England, he hoped to get 
help from the Irish. He had sent over a governor 
who got together an army of Irish Catholics. The 
Irish, for once, had everything their own way. They 
chased out the English Protestants from their homefr 
and robbed them and ill-treated them as they had 
done in 1641. The English had only a few tow^ns 



SECOND PEKIOD. 283 

left where they were still safe. One of these was 
Londonderry. James himself came to Ireland, and 
hoped that Londonderry would soon surrender, 
and then all Ireland would be his. Lundy, the 
governor, made up his mind to surrender the place, 
and gave orders that when the Irish army arrived 
there should be no resistance. Two brave soldiers 
refused to obey such orders as these. A clergyman 
named Walker called on the men of Londonderry to 
resist. Shouting ' No surrender,' the people rushed to 
the open gates and closed them in James's face. 
The Irish then surrounded the town, so that no food 
could enter in, and threw across the river on which 
it stands a boom, that is to say, a barrier formed of 
pieces of timber fastened together, which might 
prevent any ships coming up to bring in food. The 
defenders of the town were almost starved. After 
some time they had no meat except horseflesh to 
eat, and they had not much of that. From the top 
of the cathedral they could see far off the vessels 
which William had sent to help them, but for weeks 
the vessels did not venture to come up the river to 
try to break the boom. During this time a large 
number of the inhabitants died from famine ?nd 
sickness. Men who had once been well off were 
glad if they could buy a piece of dog's flesh. If a 
little fish was caught on the river it was looked on as a 
splendid prize, which the fisherman who had secured 
it would not sell for any money. Even hides were 
gnawed, in the hope of getting som.e nourishment out 
of them. Still, though many perished, those who 
remained alive refused to think of surrender. 



284 OUTLINE OF ENGLISH HISTOEY. 

Walker's voice was always raised to encourage the 
aufFerers to bear anything rather than give up the 
town. At last three of the ships which had waited 
so long began to move up the river. One of them 
dashed at the boom and broke it, though it was itself 
driven on shore. The others passed through and 
carried the store of food which they bore to the stout 
defenders of the city. The besiegers gave up in de- 
spair the task of forcing their way into Londonderry. 

5. The End of the War in Ireland.— The siege of 
Londonderry took place in the year after William 
arrived in England. The next year after that William 
crossed to Ireland, and defeated James thoroughly at 
the battle of the Boyne. James gave up hope, and 
fled to France once more. The Irish, however, 
struggled on, and it was not till the next summer 
that their resistance was finally overcome. They 
were defeated in another great battle at Aghrim, and 
those who fought longest took refuge at Limerick. 
When Limerick was taken they had no hope left. 
For many years the Protestants, who were almost 
all of English birth, ruled in Ireland. There was 
a Parliament at Dublin in which only Protestants 
could sit, and from time to time they made hard laws 
against the Catholics. 

6. The Battle of Beachy Head. — William was now 
not popular in England. Fie did not understand 
English ways, and he did not know how to make 
himself agreeable to Englishmen. He did not even 
talk English very well, and the people never quite 
liked having a Dutchman on the throne. But the-^ 
preferred having a Dutchman on the throne to having 



SECOND PEEIOD. 



285 



a French army in England, and, as Lewis wanted to 
invade England to set James up again, almost all 
Englishmen were ready to fight for William at such 
times of danger. When WilUam was in Ireland, 
a French fleet appeared in the Channel. It was 
met off Beachy Head by a fleet composed partly oi 
English and partly of Dutch vessels. The English 
Admiral, Lord Torrington, was in a bad temper. He 




LIMERICK. 



let the Dutch fight, but would not fight himself. He 
had consequently to sail away to seek shelter in the , 
Thames. The French Admiral sailed down the 
Channel, landed some men at Teignmouth, and 
burnt fhe few cottages of which the place was then 
composed. It was not much to do, but it was enough 
to rouse the spirit of the nation. There were many 
people in England who would have been glad to see 



286 OUTLINE OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

James on the throne again. But there was scarcely 
one who was not ready to shed his blood to prevent 
a French invasion of England. 

7. The Battle of La Hogiie. — Two years later the 
same feeling was again roused. Another French fleet, 
more powerful than that which had fought at Beachy 
Head, and a great French army, were prepared for 
the invasion of England. Frenchmen thoug^it that, 
because Englishmen grumbled against William, they 
would welcome the French who were to come to 
restore James. The English fleet which was to 
resist them was placed under the command of one of 
the grumblers. Admiral Russell, a brother of the 
Lord Russell who had been beheaded in the reign of 
Charles II. He was an ill-tempered man, always 
fancying that he was not sufficiently respected, and 
though he was in William's service he had even told 
some friends of James that he would be ready to 
help his old master back. One of these men now 
came to ask him to help James. 'Do not think,' 
answered the Admiral, ' that I will let the French 
triumph over us in our own sea. Understand this, 
that if I meet, them I fight them, ay, though His 
Majesty himself should be on board.' Russell kept 
his word. He met the French fleet near Cape La 
Hogue and utterly defeptted it. The English sailors 
followed up their victor}?-, and set the greater part of 
the French, fleet on fire as it lay under the batteries 
from which they had hoped to find shelter. No such 
victory had been won by an English fleet since the 
day when Essex and Raleigh sailei triumphantly into 
Cadiz B.-iy. No such victory was won again till 



SKCOND PERIOD. 



287 



Nelson struck down the French navy at the Nile and 
at Trafalgar. 

8. The War in the Netherlands and the Death of 
Mary. — Year after year William passed over to the 
Netherlands to resist the armies of Lewis. In the 
battles which were fought the French were always 




THE 

LOW COUNTRIES 

and 



successful, but William never allowed them to gain 
much by their success. Whilst he was absent his 
faithful wife, who loved him dearly and whom he 
loved dearly in return, occupied his place at home. 
In 1694 she was attacked by the small-pox. In 
those days vaccination had not been discovered, and 



288 OUTLINE OF ENGLISH HISTOEY. 

a large number of people died of the small-pox every 
year. When the physicians told William that there 
was no hope, his grief was heartrending. ' There is 
no hops,' he said to one of the bishops. ' I was the 
happiest man on earth, and I am the most miserable. 
She had no fault ; none, you knew her well : but you 
could not know, nobody but myself could know her 
goodness.' The queen died, but she left her memo- 
rial behind her. Charles II. had begun to build on 
the banks of the Thames at Greenwich a magnificent 
palace on the site of an old one which had sometimes 
been occupied by his predecessors. When the Battle 
of La Hogue was fought, and hundreds of sailors 
came home wounded, Mary announced her intention 
of completing that palace, not as a residence for her- 
self or her husband, but as a place of refuge for 
sailors who had been disabled in the service of their 
country. Greenwich Hospital is the lasting monu- 
ment of the gentle queen. 

9. The Liberty of the Press.— About this time a 
most important change was made. No one had been 
allowed to publish a book till it had been shown to 
an officer called a licenser, who might, if he thought 
right, stop the sale of the book altogether. In this 
way those who thought that the Government was 
doing wrong were prevented from writing books to 
say so. Now an end was put to the law which forced 
authors to get leave from the licenser to publish 
their books. The result was that men became more 
peaceable than they had been before, because a man 
who thought things were being done wrong wrote 



SECOND PERIOD. 289 

books or newspapers to persuade others to join in 
setting them straight instead of secretly forming- 
plots to overthrow the Government. 



CHAPTEE XXXIII. 
WILLIAM III. 

(1694-1702.)- 



1. The Siege of Namur.— Till the year 1695 Lewis 
XIV. had always been victorious. His victories had 
cost thousands of lives and immense sums of money, 
and the French people were growing poor, and were 
not able to find so much money to pay the soldiers 
as they had once done. Lewis, too, was spoiled by his 
good fortune. In the early part of his reign he had 
taken care to appoint good generals to command his 
armies, and good ministers to manage his affairs 
at home. Now he behaved very differently. He 
gave power to men who flattered him and were 
agreeable at Court, whether they were fit for their 
work or not. On the other hand England and 
Holland were both trading countries, and' merchan- 
dise made them w^ealthy. William, too, took good 
care to employ men who were able and willing to 
work. In 1695 he laid siege to Namur. He managed 
the siege so skilfully that the French armies were 
not able to drive him off. At last the place surren- 
dered. It was like the turn of the tide. It was the 
first time in this war that Lewis had lost a town. 

2. The Assassination Plot. — James had not given 

u 



290 OUTLINE OF ENGLISH HISTOEY. 

up all hope. He had still some followers in England, 
who were called Jacobites, because his name James 
was Jacobus in Latin. Lewis had promised to send 
French soldiers into England, if the English Jacobites 
would first rise in insurrection against William. 
The English Jacobites, however, said that they 
would not rise unless the French soldiers w^ere 
actually in England to protect them, and Lewis did 
not think it prudent to send his men across the sea 
without being quite sure that they would be helped 
by the Jacobites. Whilst this plan was being 
discussed, about forty Jacobites resolved to murder 
William. They knew that when he came back 
to Hampton Court from hunting he passed through 
a narrow^ lane, and that he was accustomed to have 
only twenty-five guards with him. The Jacobites 
resolved suddenly to spring into the lane, to shoot 
the guards, and then to shoot the king. Fortun- 
ately there were some amongst the plotters who 
did not like having anything to do with assassina- 
tion, and they let the king know" what had been 
proposed. The plotters were seized, and some of 
them were executed. The knowledge that there 
were Jacobites who intended to murder William 
had much the same effect as the knowledge that 
there were Catholics who intended to murder Eliza- 
beth had had a century before. For a long time 
William had not been popular. He was not only a 
foreigner, but he was not cheerful or friendly in his 
conversation. Now all this was forgotten. He be- 
came for a time popular, because there had been an 
attempt to assassinate him. The greater part of the 



SECOND PERIOD. 291 

Lords and Commons eagerly signed a paper which 
bound them to join in an association in defence of 
William's Government, and which engaged them to 
avenge his death upon his murderers, and to sup- 
port the law which gave the throne to the Princess 
Anne after Wilham's death. This paper was circu- 
lated in the country, and was eagerly signed by 
thousands of persons, many of whom probably would 
not have been very ready to help William, if no one 
had attempted to murder him. 

3. The Restoration of the Currency. — About this 
time the Grovernment had to turn its attention to a 
very different subject. A great part of the silver 
money in use had been made with smooth edges, 
unlike the shillings and sixpences with the milled 
edges which we now have. The consequence was that 
rogues used to clip the money, that is to say, shave 
oti' small strips of silver from the edges of the coins, 
and then pass them on a little smaller than they were 
before. If this trick were attempted now, it would be 
found out at once, because the milled edge would be 
cut away. It could not be so easily found out then, 
but it was quite evident that the money in use was 
getting smaller. A man who received a shilling in 
payment might be pretty sure that it would not be 
worth more than ninepence, and it was very likely that 
it would not be worth more than sixpence. The result 
was that scarcely any one paid or received money with- 
out quarrelling about it. Those who had to pay a 
shilling wanted merely to give a coin called a shilling. 
Those who had to receive a shilling wanted to have 
as much as would really be worth a shilling. Persons 



292 OUTLINE OF ENGLISH HISTOKY. 

who sold goods hardly knew what they ought to 
charge, and, as usually happens in such cases, they 
often ended by charging more than they ought. At 
last the Grovernmeut and Parliament interfered. New 
milled money was coined, and given in exchange for 
the old clipped money. The loss was borne by the 
public. 

4. The Peace of Eyswick. — For two years there 
had been no more fighting. Lewis did not venture 
to attack AVilliam, and William was content to keep 
what he had gained. At last, in 1697, a peace 
was signed at Eyswick, where Lewis acknowledged 
William to be King of England, and gave up the 
cause of James. When William went in state to 
return thanks for the blessing of peace, he went to 
the new St. Paul's, which still lifts its lofty dome 
above the City of London, and which was then used 
for the first time for public worship. It had been 
slowly rising, after the plan of the great architect Sir 
Christopher Wren, on the site where the old cathedral 
had been burnt down thirty-one years before. 

5. The Dismissal of the Dutch Guards. — William 
thought that though the war was over- it would be 
well to keep a large part of the army together. He 
knew that Lewis was still ambitious, and that the 
French king was much more likely to keep the 
peace if he saw that there were many of those Eng- 
lish soldiers who had fought at Namur ready to fight 
him again. The Commons did not think much of 
this danger. They wanted to have as little expense 
as possible, and they remembered too well how 
Cromwell had ruled England with his soldiers to 



SECOND PERIOD. 293 

like to see a larger army than was absolutely neces- 
sary. They insisted not merely that the army should 
be diminished, but that the Dutch Guards which 
William had brought over with him should be sent 
back to their native country. William was bitterly 
displeased, but he gave w^ay, and allowed the Com.- 
mons to do as they pleased. 

6. The Spanish Succession and the Partition 
Treaty. — William was thinking more of the Contin- 
ent of Europe than of England. The king of Spain, 
Charles II., was an invalid and almost an idiot, and 
w^as not likely to live long. Lewis had married his 
eldest sister, and claimed the Crown of Spain for his 
descendants. Other princes had claims in other 
wayS; William did not care much what their claims 
were, but he did not want a son or grandson of a king 
of France who was so powerful already to rule over 
the Spanish dominions, which reached over a great 
part of Italy and the Southern Netherlands, as w^ell 
as over enormous tracts of country in America. 
Lewis was not anxious at first to go to war again, 
and a treaty was made, known as the First Partition 
Treaty, which gave most of the Spanish lands to a 
young Bavarian prince whom nobody was afraid of. 
Unfortunately the youth died, and the arrangement 
had to be made all over again. This time it was 
settled by the Second Partition Treaty that some parts 
of the Spanish dominions should go to Lewis's grand- 
son Philip, and other parts, including Spain itself, to 
the Archduke Charles, a younger son of the Emperor 
who, under other titles, ruled in Austria and the 
neighbouring countries. At last, in 1700, the pror 



294 OUIXINE OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

king of Spain died, leaving a will directing that the 
whole of his dominions should go to Philip. Lewis 
accepted the great inheritance for his grandson, and 
refused to carry out the Partition Treaty. 

7. Rise of a War-feeling in England. — In England 
very few people wanted to have James back. In 
1701 the Act of Settlement was passed, which 
directed that if William died without children the 
Crown should go to Anne, the sister of his wife Mary 
and the daughter of James. After that it was to go 
to the Electress Sophia, the next heir who was a 
Protestant. She was the daughter of Elizabeth, the 
Electress Palatine, and through her the granddaughter 
of James I. At this time the Tories had a majority 
in the House of Commons, and the Tories were more 
anxious than the Whigs to keep out of w^ar. They 
therefore refused to assist William in compelling 
Lewis to carry out the Partition Treaty. Lewis did a 
great deal to provoke England, and even sent Fren h 
soldiers to occupy fortresses in the Spanish Nether- 
lands, just as if he were the master of his grandson's 
dominions. But Englishmen seemed determined to 
keep the peace whatever Lewis might do. At last 
news arrived which entirely changed their temper. 
James II. died in France. Lewis at once sent to his 
son, the boy who had been supposed by so many in 
England not to be in reality the child of his father 
and mother, and acknowledged him as James III. of 
England. At once all England was filled with anger 
at the insolence of a king of France w^ho imagined 
that he could give even the name of an English king 
to a boy whose title had been rejected by the English 



SECOND PEKIOD. 295 

Parliament and nation. William found no difficulty 
now in providing for war. He summoned a new 
Parliament, which voted money and soldiers. At the 
time when William was expecting to lead an army on 
the Continent, his end w^as near. His horse stumbled 
■» over a mole-hill in the park of Hampton Court. 
William broke his collar-bone, and after lingering a 
few days he died. He had done great things for 
England, and he had done more than any one else 
could have done to stop the civil wars and executions 
of the reigns before him. He ruled according to 
law, and he was able to guide his Parliaments, be- 
cause he was always able to keep his temper, and 
never insisted on having his own way, even when 
the nation was determined to do things which he 
thought to be wrong. 



CHAPTER XXXIV. 
aiTEEN ANNE. 

(1702-1714.) 



1. The Occasional Conformity Bill. — Anne was 
popular from the beginning of her reign. She was 
dull and uninteresting to those who saw her every 
day, but the mass of people who scarcely ever saw 
her, or did not see her at all, did not care about 
that. They were pleased that she was an English- 
woman and not a foreigner as William had been. 
Besides this, it was well known that Anne did not 
like the Dissenters, and most people in England did 



296 OUTLINE OF ENGLISH HISTOEY. 

not like the Dissenters either. They had become 
accustomed by this time to see them using their 
own chapels, but they did not like to see them 
holding offices. The Test Act had excluded them 
from office, as well as the Catholics, because it 
required that every one who was appointed to office 
should receive the communion in a church. Lately 
some of the Dissenters had got into offices in spite of 
this rule, because they did not mind coming to church 
and receiving the communion there once, though they 
afterwards went back to their own chapels. This was 
called Occasional Conformity. The Whigs, who were 
always friendly to the Dissenters, did not object to 
this, but the Tories did not like it, and they proposed 
a Bill against Occasional Conformity, to punish any 
Dissenter who went to chapel after obtaining office. 
The House of Commons, where the greater number 
were Tories, adopted this plan. But it could not 
become law unless the House of Lords adopted it 
too, and as the Whigs were stronger than the Tories 
in the House of Lords, the proposal was for some years 
always rejected there. 

2. Blenheim and Ramilies. — The chief command 
over the army on the Continent, which was to 
make war against Lewis, was given to the Duke of 
Marlborough. His wife the Duchess was a great 
favourite of Anne, and he was himself the greatest 
general who was born in England before the 
Duke of Weill no^t on. He had to command not 
only English soldiers, but Dutch and Grerman 
soldiers as well, and the kings and princes who 
sent the Oerinan troops were full of their own 



SECOND PERIOD. 297 

ideas, and were seldom ready to do what Marl- 
borough wanted them to do. He had to be civil to 
everybody, and to coax them all to do what was for 
their own good. During the first two years of the 
war he had enough to do to defend the Dutch 
Netherlands. In 1 704 he did more than that. The 
king of France had Bavaria on his side, and a 
French army was in Bavaria. Marlborough suddenly 
marched up the Ehine and across the wooded hills 
of the Black Forest. He found the French army at 
Blenheim on the Danube, and utterly defeated it. 
It was the first time that a French army had been 
defeated during the whole reign of Lewis XIV. The 
result of the battle was that the French were turned 
out of Grermany. Parliament gave to the Duke a 
large estate near Woodstock, where he built a splen- 
did mansion, which is known to this day as Blenheim 
House. Afterwards JMarlborough won another great 
battle at Eamilies, after which the French were 
turned out of nearly the whole of the Netherlands, 

3. The War in Spain.— There had also been 
fighting going on in Spain. In the year in which 
the Battle of Blenheim was fought. Admiral Sir 
George Eooke found himself at Gribraltar, with a 
large fleet and nearly 5,000 soldiers. There were 
only about 150 Spanish soldiers inside the fortress, 
and on a saint's day they all went to church. Whilst 
they were at prayers the English sailors landed, and 
took the place without difficulty. It has never 
been lost again, as the rock which rises above the 
town has a cliff towards the land side which no 
enemy can cHmb, and on the only occasion on which 



298 OUTLINE OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

an enemy has been strong enough at sea to attack it 
from the water, the attempt was defeated.- Besides 
this there were other victories in Spain, and the 
English and their friends hoped to be able to conquer 
the country for the Archduke Charles. The Spaniards 
were determined not to submit to him. They clung to 
Philip v., for much the same reason that the English 
had clung to William. They did not like having a 
foreign king, but they preferred a king who lived 
among them to one who tried to force them to 
obey him by using the help of foreign armies. 

4. The Union with Scotland. — In the midst of all 
these victories a question was raised which was of 
much greater importance to Englishmen than the 
question whether the king of Spain was to be Philip 
or Charles. The Act of Settlement had provided 
that after Anne's death the throne of England should 
be occupied by the Electress Sophia or her son. 
But the Scottish Parliament had not done the same 
thing. As Scotland was a separate kingdom, with a 
Parhament and laws of its own, it might make 
arrangements for having a king after Anne's death 
who might be a different person from the king of 
England. Of course the English did not like this. 
They did not want to have Scotland again uncon- 
nected with England, and perhaps ready to make war 
upon it as it used to do before James I. had come 
to rule in England. The Scotch did not in reality 
want this any more than the English did, but they 
had hitherto been forced to pay heavy duties when- 
ever they brought goods to England to sell, as if they 
had been foreigners, and they were determined that 



SECOND PEEIOD. 299 

they would not do as the English asked them to do 
about the throne, unless they could have freedom of 
trade with England. The English fancied that if they 
allowed the Scots to buy and sell in England without 
paying duties, they would be able to sell goods much 
more cheaply than the English did, because Scotch- 
men lived so much more economically than English- 
men, who fed upon bread and beef instead of feeding 
on oatmeal porridge. The English were therefore 
very much frightened lest they should all be ruined, 
because every one would buy goods from the Scots. 
At last, however, the English gave way, and in 1707 
the Act of Union was passed, by which England and 
Scotland became one people with one Parliament, 
and with free trade between the two countries, 
though Scotland kept its own laws and its own 
Presbyterian Church. After all, the English did not 
find that they were ruined. 

5. The Whig Ministry.' — The war was still going 
on. Marlborough won two more great battles, one 
at Oudenarde, and another at Malplaquet. In 
both the French fought desperately, and there was 
less advantage gained by the conquerors after these 
battles than had been gained after those of Blen- 
heim and Eamihes. As the war went on the Tories 
began to get tired of it. They thought that 
it would be quite enough if the French could be 
driven out of the Netherlands, and that it did not 
matter to England whether a French prince were 
king of Spain or not. Ever since the great war in 
William's time a practice had been growing up of 
giving the chief offices in the State to men who 



300 OUTLINE OF ENGLISH HISTOEY. 

agreed together in tlieir political opinions. These 
officers — a Lord Chancellor, who was at the head of 
the law ; the First Lord of the Treasury, who looked 
after the payment of the public money ; the Chan- 
cellor of the Exchequer, who looked after the raising 
of taxes ; the First Lord of the Admiralty, who looked 
after the Navy ; the Secretaries of State who gave 
orders on behalf of the Grovernment in various 
matters at home and abroad — met together with one 
or two other officials to consult about affairs of State. 
They were themselves called Ministers, and their 
meetings were called the meetings of the Cabinet, 
The Cabinet in reality governed England. As the 
Whigs were in favour of the war, and as for some 
time the war was popular, the Whigs gained a 
majority in the House of Commons after the Battle 
of Blenheim; and Marlborough, who wanted the war 
to go on, persuaded the qaeen to appoint a Whig 
Cabinet. Before long, however, there came a change 
in the feelings of the people. Many thought that 
the time had come to make peace, and this made 
the Whigs as unpopular in 1709 as they had been 
popular in 1704, the year of the battle of Blenheim. 
6. The Sacheverell Trial.— At the end of 1709,^ 
when people were getting tired of the war, a certain 
Dr. Sacheverell preached a sermon against the Dis- 
senters and the Whigs v/ho favoured them. In the 
course of the sermon, he declared his belief that all 
resistance to a king was unchristian as well as un- 
lawful. The Whig ministers considered this to be 
an attack on the resistance which had brought about 
the Eevolution at the end of the reign of James IL 



SECOND PERIOD. 301 

They had not yet learned that liberty of speech was 
a good thing when things were said against them- 
selves, and they were unwise enough to impeach 
Sacheverell. The preacher became at once popular 
with the London mob. Crowds ran about the streets, 
pulling down the Dissenters' chapels and shouting 
for the Church and Dr. Sacheverell. The House of 
Lords condemned Sacheverell's sermon to be burnt, 
and forbade him to preach for the next three years. 
It was not a very hard punishment, and Dr. Sache- 
verell did not lose much by it. As he went about 
the country he found himself received as if he had 
been a king making a progress amongst a loyal people. 
The church bells were rung, healths were drunk, 
and bonfires lighted up in his honour. It was quite 
plain that the people had grown tired of the Whigs. 
7. The Tory Ministry. — The queen, too, had never 
really liked the Whigs, and had only been persuaded 
by Marlborough to favour them. Just at this time 
she quarrelled with the Duchess, who had been her 
great friend ever since she was a child. The Duchess 
was proud and violent in temper, and treated the 
queen so haughtily that Anne could bear it no longer. 
The queen sent away the Duchess and dismissed the 
ministers. A new Tory ministry was formed, of 
which the principal members were Harley, a diligent, 
plodding man of no great powers of mind, and St. 
John, a man of very great ability, who could make 
better speeches than any one in the House of 
Commons, and who looked on politics as a very 
amusing game, which was particularly amusing if it 
brought riches and power to himself c 



302 



OUTLINE 01' ENGLISH HISTORY. 



8. The Peace of Utrecht. — The first thought o\ 
the new ministers was to make peace with France, 
It was quite right that they should do this, for 
France had become so w^eak by its many defeats that 
nothing more was to be gained by war. In 1713 
the Treaty of Utrecht was signed. The Archduke 
Charles, who had failed to conquer Spain, was now 
Emperor and rider of the Austrian dominions, and 




UTRECHT. 



he was allowed to add to his other territories the 
Spanish lands in Italy and the Netherlands Philip 
V..^ the grandson of Lewis XIV., kept Spain itself and 
the Spanish colonies in America and elsewhere. 

9. The Last Days of Q,iieen Anne. — Besides making 
peace, the new ministers had been doing all they 
co"Id against the Dissenters. Parliament had at 
last made a law against Occasional Conformity, and 



SECOND PERIOD. 303 

a little later it made another law called the Schism 
Act, by which no one was allowed to keep a school 
without license from the bishop, the object of which 
was to prevent the Dissenters from having schools of 
their own. The Tories, however, were in the same 
difficulty which James II. had been in. Just as 
James had known that whatever he did would be un- 
done, as soon as he died, by his daughter Mary, so 
the Tories knew that whatever they did would be 
undone whenever Anne died. By law Anne's heir 
was the Electress Sophia, and when she died, in 1714, 
her son Greorge, Elector of Hanover, succeeded to her 
right. The Tories knew that George would favour 
the Whigs, and some of them w^ould have been glad 
to change the law, and bring the son of James II. — 
the Pretender as he was usually called — to reign after 
Anne. If the Pretender had been a Protestant, this 
would perhaps have been done ; but as he was not, 
the Tories could not make up their minds to have a 
Catholic king. Before they could resolve what to 
do, the queen died. 



CHAPTER XXXV. 



THE REIGNS OF THE FIRST TWO GEORGES 
TO THE DEATH OF HENRY PELHAM. 

(GEORGE I., 1714 — GEORGE II., 1727 — DEATH OF HENRY 
PELHAM, 1754.) 

1. The First Years of George I. — The new king 
sent away the Tory ministers and put Whig ministers 



304 



OUTLINE OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 



in their places. In 1715 the Jacobites rose against 
the Grovernment in the North of England and in Scot- 
land. The Pretender himself landed in Scotland. 
He was a slow and inactive man, and made a very 
bad soldier, so that no one felt mnch interest in 
him. The insurrection was put down, and the 
Pretender had to go back again to the Continent. 




GEORGE I. 



The Whig Grovernment had everything its own 
way. It took away the laws which had been made 
in Anne's reign against the Dissenters, and some 
of the Whigs talked of putting an end to the 
Test Act, as far as the Dissenters were concerned, 
and allowing them to hold offices. The Whigs who 
proposed this soon found that it would make them very 



SECOND PEEIOD. 305 

unpopular. The greater part of the English people 
did not know much, or care much about politics, but 
they had strong prejudices, and they fancied that if 
the Dissenters had power they would behave in the 
way in which the Puritans had behaved in the time 
of Cromwell. Just at the time, however, when this 
matter was tallied of, the Whig ministers, who were 
then in office, were driven out of it by an affair which 
had nothing to do with politics. 

2. The South Sea Bubble. — In consequence of 
the peace which had followed the Treaty of Utrecht, 
there was more trade than there had been before, and 
many people who had a little money began to think 
that they had only to spend it on trade to make them- 
selves rich. They began to form companies for trade, 
and some of these companies did good work, and 
brought profits to the shareholders. Others were 
only invented by ignorant or knavish men, in order 
to get money for themselves out of the pockets of 
people who were foolish enough to believe them. 
One of the companies which was most popular w'as 
the South Sea Company. It had been formed to 
carry on trade in South America, and it might have 
gained a profit there. But people fancied that its 
profit would be enormous, and large numbers paid 
for the right of joining in the company a great deal 
more than it w^as worth. At one time they were 
ready to give 1 ,0001. for such a share in the company 
as had at first been worth only 100^., and which 
was probably never worth more than that. By-and- by 
these people found out that they had been deluded, 
and had to sell for less than it was worth what they 



306 OUTLINE OF ENGLISH HISTOEY. 

had bought for more than it was worth. Of course 
they were very angry, and as some of the ministers 
had been bribed by the people who managed the 
company to give them support in Parliament, there 
was a great outcry against them. One of the 
ministers vv^as sent to the Tower. Another poisoned 
himself from shame and grief. 

3, Sir Robert Walpole, Prime Minister. — A new 
ministry was formed, of which the chief member was 
Sir Eobert Walpole. He was a Whig like the last 
ministers, but he was careful not to do anything 
which would rouse opposition. He was the first 
man who was called a Prime Minister in England. 
In the time of William III. and Anne the king or 
queen had been in the habit of being present at the 
meetings of the Cabinet and of listening to the 
advice of the ministers there. Greorge I., however, 
could not talk English well enough to take an 
interest in the discussions of his ministers, and none 
of his ministers could talk German. He therefore 
stayed away, and none of the kings since have ever 
been present at a meeting of the Cabinet. When 
the king ceased to come, it was necessary that 
some one should take the first place, and in this 
way grew up the practice of having one minister, 
called a Prime Minister, who is superior to the rest. 

4. Parliamentary Corruption. — Walpole under- 
stood business very well, and he understood how to 
manage the members of the House of Commons. 
Many of them would not vote as the ministers 
wished unless they were bribed, and Walpole was 
quite ready to bribe them. At that time no one, 



SECOI^D PERIOD. 307 

unless he were a member of the House, knew how 
a member spoke or voted. Newspapers were not 
allowed to publish the speeches in Parliament 
or to tell how any vote had been given. The 
consequence was that a member could sell his vote, 
because none of those who had elected him would 
know anything of what he had done. Very few of 
them would have cared much about the matter if they 
had known. When election time came they knew 
that the candidates gave them money for their votes 
and plenty of beer without asking them to pay for it, 
and that w^as all that most of them thought of. 

5. Walpole and the Excise Bill.~In 1727 Greorge 
I. died, and was succeeded by his son George II. 
Walpole remained Prime Minister. There was 
beginning to be an opposition against him in the 
House of Commons. Some members opposed him 
because he had turned them out of office, or because 
he would not bribe them enough. There were 
others, too, who opposed him because they did not 
like seeing bribes given. He had the advantage 
over his opponents for a long time, not only because 
he had the money of the nation to give away, but 
because he never did anything imprudent. Once 
he proposed an Excise Bill to enable the Govern- 
ment to get money by an excise levied upon goods 
when they are ready to be sold, instead of getting it 
by customs, levied on goods w^hen they are brought 
into the country. In this way he hoped to put an 
end to smuggling. Every one now thinks that this 
would have been a great improvement. But the 
people took it into their heads that it would be very 

X 2 



308 OUTLINE OF ENGLISH HISTOEY. 

tyrannical if officers came into their shops and 
houses to see what was there for sale, and they 
fancied that they would have to pay more for what 
they bought than they had paid before. Walpole 
knew that this would not really be so, but when he 
saw how excited the people were he preferred to 
give up his proposal rather than take the chance of 
open resistance. He thought that no improvement 
was worth the risk of an insurrection. 

6. Walpole and the War with Spain. — Some time 
after this the people again became excited. This 
time it was about a quarrel with Spain. In those 
days no country liked to allow freedom of trade, and 
colonies were not permitted to buy or sell unless when 
they traded with persons coming from the mother- 
country to which they belonged. In the Treaty of 
Utrecht, however, Spain had been obliged to promise 
that one English ship only in the year might sell 
goods to the Spanish colonies in South America. 
The English had not kept strictly to their part of 
the bargain. One great English ship came near the 
shore, and the goods on board were unloaded in the 
day-time. But she was accompanied by several 
smaller vessels which remained out of sight of land, 
and which came up in the night-time and filled up 
with fresh goods the space in the large ship which 
had been emptied the day before. Besides this 
trickery there was a great deal of smuggling going 
on. English vessels sailed to the West Indies to 
put their goods on shore whenever they could escape 
the notice of the Spanish coastguards. Of course, 
the coastguards were very angry, and did not treat the 



SECOND PERIOD. 309 

English smugglers very well when they caught them. 
One day a man named Jenkins appeared before the 
House of Commons, and produced one of his ears 
out of a box where it was wrapped up in cotton. 
He said that it had been cut off by the Spaniards in 
the West Indies, and that they had bidden him to 
carry it to his king. Many people believe that this 
story was untrue, and that he had lost his ear in the 
pillory. Whether it were true or not, England was 
enraged. Parliament and people called on Walpole 
to go to war with Spain. Walpole believed that 
this was unjust, but he weakly consented to do what 
he was asked to do. When war was declared, the 
bells rang loudly for joy. ' They are ringing the 
bells now,' said the Prime Minister. ' They will be 
wringing their hands soon.' 

7. Fall of Walpole.— To make war when he knew 
that it was unjust was the worst thing that Walpole 
ever did. It was also the most unfortunate thing for 
himself. It would have been better for him if he had 
been honest ; and if he had resigned, rather than 
do what he thought wrong, he would probably have 
been asked before long to take office again. As it 
happened, the war did not go on as well as people 
thought that it ought, and they threw the blame on 
Walpole. They said that he did not take any 
trouble about it because he did not like it. At last 
the opposition grew so strong that he was obliged to 
resign, and in 1742 his long Ministry came to an 
end. 

8. The Ministry of the Pelhams. — After Walpole 
had been turned out there was a new set of ministers, 



310 OUTLINE OF ENGLISH HISTORY, 

but they bribed the members of Parliament just as 
much as Walpole had done. After a short time the 
leading ministers were two brothers. The younger, 
Henry Pelham, was Prime Minister. He was a very 
good man of business, and managed to keep the 
House of Commons quiet by giving office to every- ' 
body who could speak well, without caring what his 
principles were. For this reason his ministry was 
known as the Broad-bottomed Administration. The 
elder brother, the Duke of Newcastle, was very igno- 
rant, but he knew how to keep people who had votes 
in Parliament in a good humour. Every day his 
rooms were filled with men who wanted something. 
One wished his brother or son to be made a bishop 
or a general. Another had some poor friend for 
whom he wanted a clerkship or some low^er office. 
Newcastle gave offices to some and civil speeches to 
every one. By obliging people in this way he got 
many votes for the Government, though he w^as 
himself very ridiculous. He was always in a bustle, 
and it was said of him that he seemed to have 
got up half an hour too late every morning, and to 
be running about all day to try to catch it. 

9. The Young Pretender in Scotland. — In 1745, 
after Henry Pelham had been in office for a short 
time, Charles Edward, the Young Pretender, as he 
was called in England, landed in the Highlands of 
Scotland. He was the son of the Old Pretender, who 
called himself James III. of England and James VIII. 
of Scotland, and, as his father was still alive, he called 
himself Prince of Wales. The Highlanders were 
quite ready to join him, and he soon found himself 



SECOND PERIOD. 



311 



able to march at their head to Edinburgh. Many of 
the people of Edinburgh were much pleased to see 
him. Scotland had prospered since the union with 
England, but the people of Edinburgh did not forget 
that there was no Parliament meeting in their city 
any longer, and that the members went up to London 




PRESTON TOWER, NEAR THE SITE OF THE BATTLE. 



to spend their money instead of spending it in the 
Scottish capital. Charles Edward, too, was a brisk and 
handsome young man, and that always counts for 
something. The Prince, however, could not stay 
long in Edinburgh, as an English army was coming 
against him, and was at Preston Pans, a few miles east 
of Edinburgh. He therefore marched to attack 



312 OUTLINE OF ENGLISH HISTOEY. 

them there. The Highlanders fought as they had 
fought at Killiecrankie. They rushed upon the 
English soldiers with their broadswords flashing, and 
swept them away. The victory of the Highlanders 
was complete in a few minutes. The conquerors 
plundered the slain, and often did not know the value 
of the things which they found in the pockets of the 
Englishmen. One Highlander took a watch, and 
when he heard it ticking he fancied that it was alive. 
As he did not wind it up, it soon ceased to tick. He 
then sold it for very little, and thought that he had 
made a good bargain. ' I was glad,' he said, ' to be 
rid of the creature, for she lived no time after I 
caught her.' 

10. The Young Pretender in England. — The Pre- 
tender resolved to try whether he could not win 
England as he had won Scotland. He crossed the 
Border and marched steadily southwards, hoping that 
his father's old friends would rise to support him. 
But there were few of his father's friends left. 
England was well off, and did not want a change. 
Men could not be very enthusiastic on behalf of 
George II., and still less about Newcastle, but even 
those who did not care anything about politics knew 
that the country was much better off under the 
kings of the House of Hanover than it had been 
under James II. As soon as it appeared that English- 
men would not rise for Charles Edward, it became 
quite certain that he would have to go back. He 
and his Highlanders could not conquer England. He 
reached Derby, and found that if he went on further 
he would soon be surrounded by George's armies 



SECOND PEKIOD. 313 

Sadly he turned his face northwards, and reached 
Scotland again in a miserable plight. 

11. Falkirk and Culloden. — Charles Edward had 
one more success. He fought a battle at Falkirk. 
The English general Hawley despised his enemy, 
because the Highlanders did not understand the 
drill of the regular soldiers, and so he got well beaten. 
The king's son, the Duke of Cumberland, was sent 
to Scotland to see whether he could not do better 
than Hawley.. Charles Edward wanted to remain to 
fight him, but his chief officers told him that his 
army was not large enough, and that he had better 
retreat northwards. Cumberland followed him. 
When the English army reached Nairn, the prince 
was at Culloden about twelve miles off. The High- 
landers determined to try to surprise Cumberland's 
army in its sleep. They started in the evening and 
marched all night. They had to pass over a rough 
and boggy moor, and the w^earied men found it im- 
possible to push on fast enough in the dark to reach 
the enemy's camp before daylight. They struggled 
back to Culloden. The next day Cumberland was 
upon them. Charles Edward ordered his High- 
landers to charge. They dashed upon the soldiers, 
and drove back the first line. The second line stood 
firm, and received them with a steady fire. The bold 
warriors in the tartan kilts wavered. Then they broke 
and fled. Discipline had at last shown, as it has 
often shown, that it is too strong for undisciplined 
valour. Cumberland had won a victory. But he 
disgraced the English name by the use which he 
made of it. The Highlanders were treated worse than 



314 OUTLINE OF ENG-LISH HISTOEY. 

vermin are treated by the farmer. After the battle 
the soldiers knocked the wounded on the head. 
Several of the wounded men had taken refuge in a 
cottage. The soldiers shut the door fast, set the 
house on fire, and burnt the wretched men alive. 
Prisoners taken were sent in great numbers to execu- 
tion. Three Scotch noblemen were beheaded on 
Tower Hill. It was the last time that the axe and 
block were used in England. To the day of his death 
the general who had won the day "was known as 
The Butcher Cumberland. 

12. The Escape of Charles Edward. — The Prince 
himself escaped. He wandered about for five months 
amongst the hills and islands of the Western High- 
lands. A lady, Flora Macdonald, took him under 
her special care, concealed him when danger was 
near, and aided his flight. Sometimes he was dis- 
guised as a servant, sometimes as a woman. Of the 
many who knew him not one would betray him to 
his enemies. At last he escaped in a French vessel. 
He lived for many years on the Continent a broken- 
hearted man, without hope and without employment 
for his energy. He sunk into dissipation and vice. 
In Scotland he has never been forgotten. To this 
day songs in honour of Prince Charlie are sung there, 
- which were composed by a lady many years later, but 
which tell the thoughts which were once in so many 
Scottish hearts. Now that Scotchmen are all loyal 
to their queen and country, they can still sing that, 

Charlie is my darling, 

My darling, my darling, 
Charlie is my darling, 

The young chevalier. 



SECOND PEKIOD. 315 

13. The Death of Henry Pelham. — Henry Pelham 
lived for eight years after the Battle of Culloden, 
doing his business quietly and offending nobody. 
He died in 1754c ' Now/ said the old king, ' I shall 
have no more peace.' The old king spoke truly. 



CHAPTER XXXVI. 



THE LAST SIX YEARS OF GEORGE II, 

(1754-] 760.) 

1. Englishmen Spread over the World. — The wars 
which England had hitherto waged had been waged 
for power on the Continent of Europe. The nation 
had striven to conquer France in the days of Edward 
III. and Henry V., to resist the enormous strength 
of Spain in the reign of Elizabeth, and the enormous 
strength of France in the reigns of William III and 
Anne. For some time, however, Englishmen had 
been spreading over the world. They had gone 
forth to trade and to colonise, and before the end 
of the reign of Greorge II. England was at war 
with France, not on account of anything that had 
happened in Europe, but on account of things whica 
had happened in America and Asia. 

2. English and French in America. — In the time 
of James I. and Charles I. Englishmen had gone to 
live in that part of the American Continent which 
is now known as the United States. Some of them 
who had gone to the southern part went, just as 



316 OUTLINE OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

people now go to Australia or Canada, because they 
wanted to have land of their own to cultivate. Those 
who went to New England in the North went because 
they were Puritans, and wanted to be allowed to 
live and to worship God in their own way without 
interference. The descendants of these men had 
increased and multiplied, and .there were in the 
middle of the reign of Greorge II. thirteen colonies, 
full of prosperous people, managing their own affairs, 
but each having at its head a Grovernor appointed 
by the king of England. They all lived along the 
Atlantic coast, and it was only very occasionally that 
any one of them crossed the Alleghany mountains. 
Those who did found a vast plain, the northern part 
of which is watered by the Eiver Ohio, and the 
streams which fall into it. The country was covered 
with forests, in which were Indians who hunted the 
fur- covered animals which abounded there, and sold 
the furs to Europeans. Most of these Indians were 
not friendly to the English, who would cut down 
their woods, and ploughed up their lands if they 
could come into possession of them. At that time 
Lower Canada belonged to the French, and as the 
French did not want to cultivate the land on the 
Ohio the Indians were on very good terms with 
them and sold their furs to them. Even before the 
death of Pelham there had been some fighting going 
on between the English and French, and Greneral 
Braddock had been sent to protect the English. 
He was a brave but stupid man. 

Officers in those days were appointed not 
because they understood how to lead an army, but 



SECOND PEEIOD. 317 

because they were the friends of Newcastle, or of 
some one whose vote Newcastle wanted to gain. 
Braddock marched on till he came to a place where 
the French and Indians surrounded him in the forest, 
and he and most of his men were shot down from 
behind the trees. 

3, Beginning of the Seven Years' War. — After 
that there could be no continuance of peace with 
France. The two nations were in reality contending 
for all that vast country which stretches from the 
Alleghany mountains to the Pacific. Whichever 
of the two gained its object would some day occupy 
almost all the territory which now belongs to the 
United States. The war would decide whether 
French or English was to be spoken on the banks 
of the Mississippi and the shores of California. 
But England and France did not know this ; they 
only knew that they were fighting for the possession 
of the forests at the head of the Ohio. The war, which 
began in 1756 and lasted till 1763, is known as the 
Seven Years' War. 

4. Newcastle driven from Office. — Newcastle was 
now Prime Minister. He was quite ignorant how to 
manage a war. At that time Minorca in the Medi- 
terranean belonged to England. It was attacked 
by a French fleet, and army. Admiral Byng went 
to take help to it, but he thought that the French 
were too strong, and came back without fight- 
ing. Minorca was taken by the enemy. People in 
England were enraged. They thought that Byng 
was a coward, and cried out to have him punished. 
Newcastle was horribly frightened. He thought 



318 OUTLINE OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

that the people would ask to have himself punished 
next. ' Oh,' he cried out to some persons who came 
to ask him to have the Admiral tried ; ' indeed, he 
shall be tried immediately — he shall be hanged 
directljc' Byng was tried, and shot. A witty French- 
man said that it was the custom in England to shoot 
an admiral to encourage the others. Before Byng 
was condemned Newcastle resigned his office. He 
loved it dearly, but he was too frightened to keep it 
any longer. 

5. Pitt in Office.- — There was a man in the House 
of Commons w^ho had more confidence in himself. 
William Pitt had kept himself pure when every one 
around him had been giving or taking bribes. He 
had confidence in his countrymen as well. He 
knew how brave they were, and he thought that if 
they had good leaders they would be sure to beat 
the French. ' I know,' he once said, ' that I can 
save this country and that nobody else can.' He 
became immediately the most popular minister who 
had ever held office. He was known as the Grreat 
Commoner. But the corrupt members of Parlia- 
ment, who wanted a minister who would buy their 
votes, did not like him at all, and they voted 
against him. He was obliged to resign. Then 
many weeks passed during which there was no 
ministry at all. Newcastle could not bear to let 
Pitt be minister, and he was too much afraid of the 
people to try to manage the war himself. At last it 
was arranged that Newcastle and Pitt should be 
ministers together. Pitt was to manage the war, 
and Newcastle was to manage the bribery. 



SECOND PEKIOD. 



319 



6. Wolfe's Expedition to Canada. — Pitt succeeded 
in managing the war, because he appointed men 
who had done well in command of small forces 




to command great ones, because he made every 
one understand that the surest way to his favour 
was to succeed, and because he never favoured any 
one only because he was rich, or related to some 



320 OUTLINE OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

great man. He sent money to Frederick the Great, 
king of Prussia, who was at war with France and 
many other countries besides. He sent out regi- 
ments to attack places in France, and fleets and 
armies to attack the French settlements in America. 
At last he sent Greneral Wolfe to take Quebec, the 
French capital of Canada. Wolfe sailed up the St, 
Lawrence, and found that Quebec was not at all an 
easy place to take. It lies between two rivers, the 
St. Lawrence and the St. Charles, and a great part 
of it is on a high ridge of hill looking down on 
the rivers with steep cliffs on either side. Outside 
the city is a lofty place known as the Heights of 
Abraham, and for some miles the cliffs at its edges 
are as steep as they are at the city. The French 
commander Montcalm was a brave and skilful man. 
He would not fight a battle, but he took care to 
place his men where Wolfe could not attack them, 
or pass by them so as to get near Quebec. Wolfe 
wrote home in despair. He did not think that there 
was any chance that he would be able to do any- 
thing. 

7. The Capture of Quebec and the Death of Wolfe. 
— Five days after this letter was written, he re- 
solved to make one desperate attempt. Placing his 
soldiers in boats in the dark night, he floated noise- 
lessly down the river. He repeated to his officers 
some beautiful lines of a poem which had been 
published by Grray some years before. One of 
these lines was, 

* The paths of glory lead but to the grave.' 

' Now, gentlemen,' he said, ^ I would rather be the 



SECOND PEEIOD. 321 

author of that poem than take Quebec ! ' At 
last the boats reached the point at the foot of the 
cliffs for which they had been steering. The men 
leapt on shore. Above them was a narrow zig-zag 
path winding up in the darkness amongst the precipi- 
tous rocks, so narrow that in some places two men 
could not stand on it side by side. The soldiers 
clambered up. When they reached the top, the 
Frenchmen were so astonished to see them coming 
up the cliff that they ran off. Before more had 
time to arrive, the British army was drawn up on the 
plain. JNIontcalm came out of the city with the 
French army. In the battle both Wolfe and Mont- 
calm were killed. As Wolfe lay dying, he heard an 
officer cry ' See how they run ! ' Wolfe roused himself 
to ask, ' Who run V ' When he heard it was the 
enemy he was satisfied. ' God be praised,' he said ; 
' I shall die happy.' These were his last words. 
Quebec gave itself up, and before long all Canada 
was conquered. French and English are happily 
good friends now, and a monument has been erected 
on the Heights of Abraham which bears the names of 
both the commanders who died there, each fighting 
for his own country. 

8. Victory at ftuiberon Bay. — Englishmen in 
Pitt's days fought as well by sea as they fought by 
land. Admiral Hawke sailed to attack a French 
fleet in Quiberon Bay. The French ships had been 
placed for safety amidst rocks and shoals. The wind 
was blowing hard. Hawke's pilot told him it was 
not safe to venture into such a dangerous place. 
' Lay me alongside the French Admiral,' answered 

Y 



i22 



OUTLINE OF ENGLISH HISTOEY. 



Hawke. You have done your duty, but now obe^i 
my orders/ Hawke dashed in amongst the rocks. 




• 


^ 1 




W 




w 




1— 1 


EH 


H 




03 




< 




w J 



Four of the French fleet were sunk, two surrendered, 
and the rest fled up a river. 

9. Struggle between the English and French. — 
There were victories in India as well as in America. 
At the end of the reign of Elizabeth, the East India 



SECOND PERIOD. 323 

Company had been formed to trade with India. In 
the reign of Charles I. the Company bought some 
land at Madras, and built a fort on it. In the reign 
of Charles II. it obtained Bombay from the king, who. 
had received it from the king of Portugal on his 
marriage with Catharine of Braganza. In the reign 
of William III. an English fort was built on the 
Hooghly, round which sprang up the town of Cal-' 
cutta. Only these three towns belonged to the 
English, who wanted to trade, not to conquer. 
The rest of India was governed by native princes. 
About the time when the Young Pretender was 
fighting in Scotland, there began a contest between 
the English and French in the part of India near 
Madras. The French for some time got the better. 
The French governor Dupleix was a skilful man, and 
managed to secure the friendship of some of the 
natives, and to defeat those who opposed him. He 
was the first to drill native soldiers, or Sepoys as 
they were called, in the European fashion. He was 
so proud of his success that he built a town and 
called it by an Indian name, which meant ' The City 
of the Victory of Dupleix.' 

10. Clive at Arcot. — In Madras there was a young 
English clerk, named Eobert Clive. He was not a 
man to be easily frightened. One day he accused an 
officer with whom he was playing at cards with cheat- 
ing. A duel was fought, and Clive missed the man 
at whom he fired. His antagonist came up to him and 
held his pistol at his head, bidding him acknowledge 
that his accusation had been false. ' Fire,' said 
Clive, without shrinking ; ' I said you cheated, I say 

y 2 



324 OUTLINE OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

so still, and I will never pay you.' The officer threw 
down his pistol, sa3dng that Clive was mad. Clive 
was not mad. Not long afterwards there was a 
call for soldiers, and Clive offered to serve as one. 
He was sent to seize Arcot, a fortified town not far 
off, which belonged to a native prince, who was 
friendly to the French. When Clive approached the 
place a thunderstorm came on. The garrison of 
Arcot expected that Clive would stop to take shelter. 
When they saw that he marched on in spite of the 
weather, they were so astonished that they all ran 
away, and left Arcot to him. Before long a great 
army was sent to besiege him there. He fought 
desperately, but he was all but starved out. Nothing 
but rice was left to feed on, and there was not much 
of that. Clive, like Dupleix, had sepoys with him. 
Some of these faithful men came to him and begged 
that all the rice might be given to his English 
soldiers. The natives, they said, did not need so 
much nourishment as Europeans did, and the water 
in which the rice had been boiled would be enough 
for them. Clive's brave resistance saved him in the 
end. A native chief who had been paid to help the 
English had for some time kept away.. When he 
heard how Arcot was being defended, he ordered hia 
men to march. ' I never thought till now,' he said, 
' that the English could fight. Since they can, I 
will help them.' With this help Clive was success- 
ful. The besiegers gave up trying to take Arcot. 
The English troops got the better of the French. 
Not long afterwards Clive returned to England. 
11. The Black Hole of Calcutta. — For some little 



SECOND PEllIOD. 32 5 

time there was peace between the French and Eng- 
lish. When the Seven Years' War began Clive was 
sent oat again. The first news which reached him 
on his arrival was sad enough. A native prince 
named Surajah Dowlah ruled in Bengal. He knew 
that the English merchants at Calcutta were rich, 
and he seized Calcutta and all the English in it. 
He ordered them to be thrust into a very small 
room measuring only eighteen feet one way and 
fifteen the other. Into this place, known afterwards 
as ' The Black Hole of Calcutta,' a hundred and forty- 
five Englishmen and one Englishwoman were driven. 
It was in the heat of the day, and the day is far 
hotter in India than it ever is in the hottest summer 
in England. So hot and close was it that those who 
were within soon knew that but few of them would 
come out alive. They called for water, and, when 
some was brought in skins, these skins were too 
large to be thrust in through the bars of the window. 
The prisoners struggled madly for the smallest drop, 
trampling one another down to reach it. The 
guards outside laughed cruelly at the sight. All 
through that day and the night which followed men 
were dying in agony. When the morning came, and 
the door was opened, of the hundred and forty- 
six who had entered only twenty-three, almost as 
pale as corpses, staggered out alive. 

12. The Battle of Plassey. — Clive soon arrived to 
avenge his countrymen. He had with him three 
thousand soldiers. Surajah Dowlah had fifty thou- 
sand. In spite of these enormous odds, Clive attacked 
him at Plassey. Part of the army of the enemy 



326 OUTLINE OF ENGLISH HISTOEY: 

deserted in the middle of the battle. The rest fled 
with very little resistance. From the example of 
that day English armies have learned to face any 
odds in India. Step by step they have overcome all 
resistance. India has been brought in the course 
of years under English rule. India has had peace 
given to it. The native princes who remain in some 
parts are not allowed to plunder and slaughter their 
neighbours. The English governors of India have 
still a hard task before them, to rule justly and 
wisely for the benefit of the natives, and to teach 
them, if it be possible, to govern themselves. 



CHAPTER XXXVII. 



FHOM THE ACCESSION OF GEORGE III. TO 
THE END OF THE AMERICAN WAR. 

(1760-1783.) 

1. Peace with France. — Greorge II. died suddenly, 
and was succeeded by his grandson, George III. 
The young king was anxious to make peace with 
France. Pitt discovered that the Spaniards wanted 
to join the French, and proposed to declare war 
against Spain. The king and the other ministers 
refused to do so, and Pitt resigned. After all, Spain 
did join France, and in the war that followed the 
Spaniards were beaten as much as the French had 
been. Before long, however, peace was made in 
1763, seven years after the war had begun. England 
kept Canada. 



SECOND PEEIOD. 327 

2. The Stamp Act. — Even before the peace was 
made Greorge III. tried to get rid of the Whigs. He 
had set his heart on naming the ministers whom he 
liked to name, and not the ministers whom the 
great Whig noblemen asked him to name. He 
found out that he could gain votes by giving offices 
away, especially if the offices were well paid, and if, 
^as often happened, the officers had nothing to do. 
Still it was a long time before he got his way. 
After a little time he was obliged to accept Greorge 
Grrenville, who was a Whig, as Prime Ministery 
whom he very much disliked. Grrenville was a con- 
scientious man, but not a wise one. The last war 
had been very expensive, and Grrenville thought thai 
he could make the Americans pay some of the ex- 
pense. He therefore persuaded the English Parlia- 
ment to pass a Stamp Act, ordering the Americans to 
pay money for stamps to be put on all their law 
papers as they are now in England. The Americana 
grew very angry, and declared that the English Par- 
liament had no right to tax them. Before it was 
known in England how angry they were, the king 
had turned Grrenville out of office. Grrenville was 
succeeded by Lord Rockingham, who was now leader 
of one portion of the Whigs. The Whigs who were 
led by Rockingham were never very popular. They 
would not bribe, so that all who wanted to be bribed 
turned against them. They offended others because 
they did not mix with the people, and did not like 
to have anything to do with any great changes. 
Rockingham himself was a well-meaning, timid man, 
who listened respectfully to Edmund Burke, who was 



328 OUTLINE OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

the wisest man in England. When the news came 
of the ill-feeling in America, the Eockingham mini- 
stry advised that the Stamp Act should be repealed. 
As soon as the English Parliament left off taxing 
the Americans, the Americans again became quiet 
and loyal. 

3. The Tea Duties. — The king did not like Eock- 
ingham any better than he had liked Grrenville, and 
turned him out. He made Pitt Prime Minister, and 
created him Earl of Chatham. Chatham's ministry 
might have been a splendid one if he had remained 
in health, but he soon became so ill that he was 
unable to attend to business. The other ministers 
did as they pleased, and were foolish enough to try 
to tax America again. This time they persuaded 
Parliament to place duties on tea and other articles 
going into America. Parliament did not need much 
persuasion. Most English people thought that the 
Americans ought to pay more taxes than they did, and 
were glad to make them pay whether they liked it 
or not. The Americans again grew angry. But 
this time there was no Eockingham ministry to be 
wise enough to take away the duties. 

4. Wilkes and the Middlesex Election. — The fact 
was that the House of Commons only thought of 
making people do as it pleased, just as Charles I. had 
only thought of making people do as he pleased. 
Just then the Middlesex electors chose a man named 
Wilkes as their member of Parliament. His character 
was not good, and some years before lie had made 
the king very angry by finding fault with the king's 
speech at the opening of Parliament. As soon as he 



SECOND PERIOD. 329 

was elected the House of Commons expelled him. 
The Middlesex electors chose him a second time, 
and the House of Commons expelled him again. 
The Middlesex electors chose him a third time, and 
then the House of Commons declared that another 
candidate, who had received very few votes, was 
properly chosen, and allowed him to sit in the House 




LORD NORTH. 



instead of Wilkes. Soon after this Chatham got 
well again. He declared in the House of Lords that 
the House of Commons had no right to do what it 
had done, and he also declared that an English 
Parliament had no right to tax America. 

5. Throwing of Tea into Boston Harbour. -The 
king would not listen to Chatham's good advice. He 
made Lord ^orth Prime Minister. Lord North was 



330 OUTLINE OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

one of those men who were now called Tories. The}/ 
were different in many ways from the Tories of the 
reign of Anne. They thought that the king and not 
the great Whig noblemen ought to choose the mini- 
sters. Lord North was a sensible man, but he allowed 
himself to be persuaded to do whatever the king told 
him to do. He was very fat, and used, to go to sleep 
in the House of Commons when the members were 
abusing him in their speeches. When he was awake 
he was fond of making jokes, and he never lost his 
temper. Some time afterwards a large quantity of tea 
was sent to Boston. The inhabitants determined that 
it should not be landed, because they were afraid 
lest if it were allowed to come on shore some people 
might be tempted to buy it, and so to pay the duty 
to the British Government. They asked the governor 
to allow the ship which brought the tea to go back 
to England. As soon as it was known that he had 
refused, about forty or fifty men disguised as Eed 
Indians rushed down to the quay. They leapt on 
board the ship, split open the tea-chests, and emptied 
their contents into the harbour. When the news of 
what had been done reached England, the king and 
the ministers were extremely angry. They got 
Parliament to pass a law forbidding any ships to 
take in cargo, or to unload cargo at Boston, and an- 
other law providing that the colony of Massachusetts, 
in which Boston was, should be governed by persons 
appointed by the king. Chatham and Burke did all 
they could to stop the making of these laws, but it 
was all in vain. Soldiers were sent out to force the 



SECOND PERIOD. 



331 



colonists to obey the orders of the British Parlia- 
ment. 

6. The Beginning of the American War. — The 

Americans prepared to resist. They elected a Con- 
gress, in which persons chosen by the different 
colonies might meet to decide what was to be done. 
In 1775 fighting began. A British force marching 




iiU^iKl^K 8 HI-LL. 



to seize some arms was attacked, and many of the 
soldiers were killed. The first serious fighting was 
on a hill near Boston called Breed's Hill, though the 
battle is usually known as that of Bunker's Hill, 
which is a height in the same range. The British 
troops attempted twdce to ascend the hill. Twice 
they were driven back with great slaughter. The 



332 



OUTLINE OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 



third time they were successful, as the Americans 
had used nearly all their powder and shot, and were 



:^^ 







NORTH 
AMERICA 



obliged to retreat. The British general wrote home 
saying that he had now found out that the rebels 



SECOND PERIOD. 



333 



were not ' the despicable rabble too many have 
supposed them to be.' In spite of this the English 
people thought that the war would soon be over. 
They w^ere many and the Americans were few. 
Their soldiers were well disciplined, and the Ameri- 
cans had no regular soldiers at all. But the Ameri- 
cans were fighting for their own land, and for their 
liberty. Before long they issued their Declaration 
of Independence, declaring that they were a free 




NEW yORK. 



nation, and would submit to King George no longer. 
The Americans had a difficult battle to fight. They 
were sometimes victorious, and sometimes beaten. 
The British forces seized on New York, and kept it 
to the end of the war. After that the Americans 
surrounded a British army under General Burgoyne 
at Saratoga, and forced it to surrender. They had a 
great man to lead them, George Washington. He 
was not merely a good general, but he was patient 



334 OUTLINE OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

and modest, utterly regardless of himself and ready 
to suffer anything rather than injure his country. 
Yet, after two years of war, in spite of all Washing- 
ton's heroism, the American army was almost starved 
to death. The horses died for want of forage, and 
for six days the men had no meat. There was 
scarcely a pair of shoes to be found in the whole 
camp. 

7. The Alliance between America and France. — 
Help came to the Americans from France. The 
French had not forgotten how the English had 
treated them in the last war, and they were glad to 
find an opportunity of taking their revenge. They 
engaged to make war with England till America was 
acknowledged to be independent. Lord North was 
frightened, and offered to do anything that the 
Americans wished if they would not ask for inde- 
pendence. Chatham himself could not make up his 
mind to agree to that. He was old and ill, and he 
went to the House of Lords to call on Englishmen 
not to give way before France. ' As long,' he said, 
'as I can crawl down to this House, and have 
strength to raise myself on my crutches, or lift my 
hand, I will vote against giving up the dependency 
of America on the sovereignty of Grreat Britain.' 
The Peers listened respectfully, but they could 
hardly hear his words. He was not what he once 
had been. He repeated the same sentences and 
could not recollect what he had intended to say. 
After an answer had been given him, he rose to 
speak again. He staggered and fell, struck down by 
apoplexy. His son and son-in-law — the son the 



SECOND PERIOD. 335 

young William Pitt who was one day to be Prime 
Minister — hastened to carry him away. In a few 
days he died. 

8. The End of the War.— If Chatham had been 
living, and had been ruling England, he could not 
have stopped the Independence of America. Fight- 
ing w^ent on, and Spain joined France and America. 
At ],ast an English army, under Lord Cornwallis, was 




GIBRALTAR. 



shut up in Yorktown. The Americans hemmed it 
in on the land side, and a French fleet blocked it up 
by sea. Cornwallis was forced to surrender. When 
the news readied England in 1782, every one knew 
that it was no use to struggle longer. Lord North 
gave up his ofiice, and Kockingham again became 
Prime Minister. Besides giving offices to his own 
followers, he gave some to the chief men amongst 



336 OUTLINE OF ENGLISH HISTOEY. 

Chatham's followers, of whom the principal was Lord 
Shelburne. Before peace was made Admiral Rodney 
gained a great victory over the French by sea, and a 
large French and Spanish fleet, which was trying to 
take Gribraltar, had to give up the attempt in despair. 
Before Gribraltar was freed Rockingham died, and 
the king named Shelburne to succeed him. Shel- 
burne made arrangements for peace, though the 
actual treaty was not signed till after he had left 
office. In 1783 the Independence of America was 
acknowledged in the treaty. 



CHAPTER XXXVIII. 



FROM THE END OF THE AMERICAN WAR 
TO THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 

(1783-1789.) 

1. Shelburne turned out of OiRce.— Lord Shel- 
burne did not remain Prime Minister long. The 
friends of Rockingham in the ministry did not like 
him, and they thought that the king had no right to 
choose the Prime Minister. Their leader, now that 
Rockingham was dead, was Charles James Fox, who 
was one of the ministers under Lord Shelburne. 
Fox was a great orator, and the most amiable of 
men. He had, however, quarrelled with Shelburne, 
and he and his friends resigned their posts rather 
than hold office under him. Thv-y were no sooner 
out of office thaD they wanted to get back again, and 
though they were Whigs they actually went so far 



SECOND PEKIOD. 337 

as to make an agreement with the Tory North and 
his friends to attack Shelburne. All through the 
American War Fox had been speaking all kinds of 
evil of North, so that the friendship which was thus 
suddenly made was not likely to be respected. The 
two parties, however, which w^ere led by Fox and 
North had together more votes in the House of Com- 
mons than the party led by Shelburne. They 
therefore succeeded in turning him out, and a new 
ministry was formed which is known as the Coalition 
Ministry, because Fox's friends coalesced, or joined 
together, with those of North. 

2. The Contest between Pitt and the Coalition 
Ministry. — The Coalition Ministry did not last long. 
It proposed a law about the government of India 
which offended a great many people, and the king 
turned it out of office. The king appointed young 
William Pitt, the son of Chatham, to be Prime 
Minister. No one so young as he was had ever been 
Prime Minister before. He was only twenty-four. 
Fox and North had many more votes in the House 
of Commons than he had, and the House voted tha^ 
he ought to resign. He told them that he would 
not, unless they could show that he had done some- 
thing wrong. Week after week the numbers who 
voted for him grew more, and the numbers who 
voted against him grew less. There were at that 
time a large number of members of Parliament who 
would vote for anybody who was likely to remain in 
office, because they expected to get offices for them- 
selves and their friends, which would bring them 
money, and they did not care the least whether the 

z 



338 OUTLINE OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

thing for which they voted was right or wrong 
These men began to think that Pitt was likely to 
win ; and one reason why they thought this was be- 
cause people who were not members of Parliament 
had begun to take an interest in him. Quiet people, 
who did not care much about politics, thought that 
the friendship between men who had not long ago 
been quarrelling, as Fox and North had quarrelled, 
could not possibly have been formed in order to do 
good to any one but themselves. At last Pitt advised 
the king to dissolve Parliament. A new Parliament 
was elected, in which Pitt had the greater number 
of the members on his side. 

3. Pitt and Public Opinion. — This support, given 
by the voters to the young minister, was a thing 
which could not have happened thirty years before. 
The feeling of those people who cared about politics 
had been just as strong in favour of Chatham at the 
beginning of the Seven Years' War as it was now in 
favour of Chatham's son. But Chatham had found 
that he could not keep office unless he made friends 
with Newcastle, and got the votes for which New- 
castle paid. The reason was because a great many 
more people cared about politics in Pitt's time than 
had cared about them in Chatham's time. One cause 
of this was, that just before the American War broke 
out the House of Commons allowed the speeches 
made by its members to be printed in newspapers, 
and in this way many people began to take an in- 
terest in politics who had taken no interest before. 
There were also more people who were well off from 
taking part in trade, and who did not like to see the 



SECOND PEKIOD. 339 

Government of England managed by a few great 
noblemen and their friends. A great many of the 
country gentlemen, too, took the side of Pitt and 
the king. The country gentlemen were much better 
fitted to take part in politics than they had been in 
the days of Walpole. Those who remained at home 
then had been very ignorant, and those who became 
members of Parliament usually only thought of w^hat 
they could get for their votes. Now they were 
better educated, read more, thought more, and were 
more anxious to do their duty. The party which 
Pitt led was called the Tory party, because it was 
the party which thought that the Prime Minister 
ought to be chosen by the king. 

4. The Proposed Reform Bill and the Commercial 
Treaty with France. — Pitt wished to make a good 
many wise reforms, some of which became law, 
though some were rejected by the House of Commons. 
He proposed a Eeform Bill, that is to say, a Bill for 
allowing many more persons to vote at the election of 
members of Parliament than before, but the House of 
Commons would not allow this Bill to pass. He was 
more successful in making a treaty with France, by 
which goods were to be allowed to come from one 
country to the other without being subjected to very 
high duties. Up to that time nations had been in the 
habit of thinking that they were hurt if tliey bought 
goods made by another nation more cheaply than 
they could make them themselves. A great man, 
Adam Smith, had written a book called the ' Wealth 
of Nations,' to show that this was a mistake. Pitt 
had learned the lesson from him, and he now per- 

5 2 



340 OUTLINE OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

suaded the English Parliament that Adam Smith's 
lesson was true. Nations, like men, are better off 
when their neighbours are better off. Pitt had a 
difficult task to perform in convincing Parliament 
that this was true. England and France had been 
fighting with one another for centuries, and many 
people thought that they never could do anything 
else. Pitt told his hearers that it was weak and 
childish to suppose that one nation could be for ever 
the enemy of another. He asked that Englishmen 
and Frenchmen should trade together, not merely 
because they would both make money, but because 
they would become more friendly to one another. 

5. The Slave Trade. — Pitt had room in his large 
mind for things of even more importance than a treaty 
of commerce. Ever since the days of Queen Elizabeth 
Englishmen, like men of other nations, had been in 
the habit of carrying off negroes from Africa to 
work as slaves in the West Indies and in other 
parts of America. It was calculated that at the be- 
ginning of the reign of George III. no less than 
;50,000 unhappy black men were thus carried off every 
year in ships belonging to the merchants of Bristol 
and Liverpool. About the time when Pitt became 
minister, a young man named Thomas Clarkson 
gained a prize at the University of Cambridge for 
.writing on the' question whether it was right to 
make slaves of ethers against their will. Many 
young men would have forgotten all about the 
matter as soon as they had got their prize. As 
Clarkson was riding home he got off his horse, and 
sat down on the grass by the side of the road, asking 



SECOND PERIOD. 341 

himself what he could do to put an end to the great 
evil about which he had been writing. He concluded 
in the end that the best thing would be to find out 
facts about slavery and the slave trade, and let the 
English people know what horrible things were being 
done. For some years he used to go about among 
the sailors at Liverpool, asking them to tell him 
what they knew. It was not at all a pleasant thing 
to do, for the sailors were often rude to him, and 
treated him very badly. But he learned a good deal 
that he wanted to know, and when he knew it he 
published it. By-and-by others began to inquire, 
and horrible tales were told. The wretched negroes 
who were seized in Africa were packed on shelves 
so closely that they had hardly room to breathe, 
especially as they passed across the hottest part of 
the Atlantic. They had not nearly enough given 
them to eat. In order to keep them in exercise 
they were brought up on deck and flogged to make 
them jump about. Whenever, as was often the 
case, the voyage was longer than was expected, and 
there was not food enough on board, the captain 
picked out those who looked least strong, and threw 
them into the sea, to be drowned or eaten by the 
sharks. In the House of Commons a friend of Pitt 
named Wilberforce did all he could to persuade 
Parliament to prevent this wicked trade in slaves. 
Pitt himself spoke strongly against the trade, but he 
was unable to persuade the members to stop it. 

6. The King's Illness and Recovery.— After Pitt 
had been Prime Minister for nearly five years, the 
king went out of his mind. It was agreed that 



342 OUTLINE OF ENGLISH HISTOKY. 

there should be a Eegent to act for him, and 
that the king's eldest son, who was afterwards 
George IV., was to be the Eegent. The Prince's 
character was so bad that almost every one was glad 
to hear that the old king was well again, and that 
the Prince was not to be Eegent. George III. went 
in state to St. Paul's to return thanks for his recovery. 
The streets were crowded as he passed. At night all 
London was illuminated. George III. was popular 
now. He had got a minister who knew how to rule 
well, and who did not insult the people as some of 
the ministers had done in the beginning of the reign. 
People were pleased to hear of the simple ways of 
the old king, and to be told that he liked to dine on a 
plain leg of mutton better than on more luxurious 
food. They did not think the worse of him when 
they laughed over a story which had been invented 
against him, that he had been puzzled to know how 
the apple got inside a dumpling. They liked him, 
too, because he was fond of farming. 

7. Agricultural Improvements. — Other things 
besides good government were making the country 
prosperous. Men were learning how to farm, and how 
to manure and drain the ground, so that corn was 
growing where there had been nothing but furze and 
heath not many years before. One plain farmer 
named Bakewell taught how it was possible to 
improve the breed of sheep, so that twice as many 
pounds of good mutton might be had from one sheep 
as had been had before. When the soil produced 
more food, more people could be fed, and the number 
of the population began to increase. 



SECOND PERIOD. 343 

8. The Bridgewater Canal. — A people may become 
better off not merely from the increase of food, but 
from the increase of trade. English trade had grown 
very much before the reign of Greorge III., but there 
were still difficulties in its way. Those who lived 
at a distance from the sea might be able to make 
articles w^hich might be sold for a good price in 
foreign countries, but if they were at all heavy the 
expense of carrying them to the sea-ports to put 
them in vessels was so great that it would cost more 
to send them to the coast than would be repaid by 
even a good price. They would have to be carried 
on the backs of horses, or in carriers' carts. Unless 
some one invented a way of carrying heavy goods 
cheaply, many men would be without employment, 
who might have earned good wages by their w^ork. 
The man who helped these men to work was James 
Brindley, a millwright. It happened that the Duke 
of Bridgewater had some land at Worsley, about six 
miles from Manchester. On that land there was a 
coal mine, and the inhabitants of Manchester were 
very much in want of coal, which was very dear. 
Yet high as the price was, the expense of carrying 
the heavy coal in carts was so great that it was not 
worth while to send it from Worsley to Manchester. 
The Duke consulted Brindley, and Brindley planned a 
canal which should go through tunnels under the 
hills and cross rivers on high bridges. As is usually 
the case when anything new is proposed, many 
people laughed at it. One famous engineer was taken 
to the place where the canal was to be carried across 
a valley. When he was shown the place, far above 



344 OUTLINE OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

his head, where the water was to flow, he said that 
he had often heard of castles in the air, but he had 
never before been shown where one was to be builto 
Brindley persevered, and at last the canal was 
finished. The Manchester people got their coals 
cheap, and the Duke got the money for which he was 
now able to sell them. By-and-by his example was 
followed. Canals were made from one part of England 
to the other, and heavy goods were carried easily and 
cheaply along them in barges. 

9. Improvements in Spinning Machines. — Another 
improvement was the introduction of machinery for 
spinning cotton into thread. Soon after the beginning 
of the reign of George III. Hargreaves invented a 
machine which was called the spinning-jenny. It 
was more dangerous then to invent machinery than 
it is now. Workmen thought that if a machine 
could do more work than several men, several men 
would be thrown out of work. They forgot that 
the machine would produce the article so cheaply 
that a great many more people than before would be 
able to afford to buy it, and that therefore so much 
more would be wanted that more men would be 
employed with the machines than had been employed 
without them. Hargreaves' neighbours attacked his 
house, broke his machine, and forced him to fly for 
his life. A little later, further improvements in 
spinning were made by Arkwright. He, too, had 
trouble enough. A mob broke into his mill and 
burnt it down. But he was determined to succeed 
at all risks, and at last he was allowed to live in 
peace. A further improvement was made by 



SECOND PERIOD. 345 

Crompton, who invented what is known as the mule. 
He was a poor weaver ; when his machine was 
finished, he heard that mobs were gathering to break 
all machines. He pulled his to pieces and hid it 
away. When quiet was restored be began to spin. 
The yarn which he sold was better than any that had 
been known before. Manufacturers came round him 
to find out how he did it. The manufacturers were 
as bad as the workmen had been. They peeped in 
through the window^s to see what his secret was. Poor 
Crompton had not money enough to pay for obtaining 
a patent, which would have prevented any one from 
copying his mule. He therefore told his secret, 
on the promise that the manufacturers would make 
a subscription to reward him for his improvement. 
The whole of the money subscribed by them was less 
than 681. The manufacturers gained thousands of 
pounds by the poor man's invention, which they had 
thus taken from him. 

10. The Steam- Engine. —The invention of macl i- 
nery for spinning was accompanied by many other 
inventions in different manufactures. The most 
important of all v^^as the invention of the steam- 
engine. For some time an attempt had been made 
to use steam-engines to turn wheels and for other 
purposes. But they consumed so much fuel in 
heating the steam that they cost too much to be of 
use. James Watt, of Glasgow, with patient study 
discovered a way of getting over the difficulty. 
Watt's engines, after a little time, came into general 
use, and manufacturers found that they could not do 
without them. The invention of the steam-engine 



346 OUTLINE OF ENGLISH HISTOEY. 

brought about one great change which Watt had not 
thought of. Down to this time the North of England 
had been the poorest part of the country. It was 
more covered with wild heaths and moors than the 
South. The population was small, and the people 
were usually found on a different side from those of 
the South. The new ideas which came into men's 
minds were always to be found first in the South 
before they reached the North. In the reign of 
Henry VI. th^ North fought against the Yorkists. 
In the reign of Henry VIII. it fought to stop the 
dissolution of the monasteries, and in the reign of 
Elizabeth it f6ught against Protestantism. In the 
reign of George I. it fought for the Pretender. All 
this is changed now. Steam-engines were put up 
and factories built where coal was cheap, and coal is 
cheaper in the North because it is dug out of the 
ground there. These factories drew to them a large 
population to work in them, or to provide whatever 
was needed by those who worked in them. This 
work demanded men who were quick-witted, and the 
consequence is that the people in the North are far 
more numerous than they used to be, and that they 
are very intelligent and thoughtful. Some one has 
said that what Lancashire thinks to-day England 
will think to-morrow ; and though this may not 
always be the case, it is quite certain that no one 
would have thought of saying so two or three hun- 
dred years ago. 



SECOND PERIOD. 347 



CHAPTEE XXXIX. 

FROM THE BEGINNING OF THE FRENCH 
REVOLUTION TO THE PEACE OF AMIENS. 

(1789-1802.) 

1. Beginning of the French Revolution. — In 1789, 
a few days after the king had returned thanks at 
St. Paul's for his recovery, the French Revolution 
began. For a great many years the French had 
been governed almost as badly as was possible. Not 
only had the people to pay very heavy taxes, but the 
taxes were not fairly laid on. Poor people had to 
pay whilst rich people were let off. The rich people 
were favoured in all sorts of ways. Besides the 
taxes paid to the king, the peasants in the country 
had a great deal to pay to the nobles and gentlemen 
who lived in their country houses, and who very 
seldom did any good to those amongst whom they 
lived, in the way in which English country gentle- 
men often did. The king of France, Lewis XVI., 
was a well-meaning man, but he was not wise enough 
to know how to set things straight. He was so 
much in debt, and spent so much more than he re- 
ceived, that he was now obliged to call together an 
assembly elected by different classes of his subjects, 
which called itself the National Assembly soon after 
it had met. It was not long before the National 
Assembly began to do things that the king did not 
like, and the king then wanted to force it to do what 
he thought right. When this was known there 



348 OUTLINE OP ENGLISH HISTOKY. 

was an insurrection in Paris. The people took a 
great fortress called the Bastille, and the king was 
so frightened that he let the National Assembly do 
as it pleased. A few months later the mob of Paris 
went to the place where he lived and brought him 
into Paris. After that, though he was called king 
still, he was really more like a prisoner than a king. 
The National Assembly made a great many new 
laws, and abolished all the payments which had 
been made by the peasants to the gentlemen. Some 
of the gentlemen w^ere very badly treated, and of 
these several left the country. The king, too, tried 
to escape and leave the country, but he was stopped 
and brought back to Paris, and was treated more 
like a prisoner than before. In 1792, three years 
after the Eevolution began, the Prussians and the 
Austrians seemed likely to help the king and the 
gentlemen. The French declared war against them, 
and they invaded France. The people of Paris 
thought that the king wished the enemies to succeed, 
and there can be very little doubt that he did. 
They rose in insurrection, and drove him out of his 
palace. A new Parliament, as we should call it, 
named the National Convention, met, declared the 
king to be deposed, and established a Eepublic. 
They sent the king to prison, and in the beginning 
of 1793 they tried him on the charge of favouring 
the enemies of France, and condemned him to 
death. He was executed on the guillotine, an instru- 
ment made to cut off heads quickly. 

2. War between England and France. — When 
the French Eevolution began, people in England 



SECOND PERIOD. 349 

were much pleased. They thought that the French 
were going to have a quiet parliamentary govern- 
ment like their .own, and they did not think how 
angry different classes of people in France were with 
one another, and how little likely it was that a 
nation which had never had a parliamentary govern- 
ment before should know at once exactly how to 
behave when they had it. When news came of 
disturbances and insurrections, and murders, most 
people in England began to think that the French 
Eevolution was altogether bad, and when a great 
many of the French gentlemen took refuge in 
England after losing all, or nearly all their property, 
the English gentlemen were so very sorry for them 
that most of them were ready to go to war with 
France for their sake. For a long time Pitt did all 
.he could to keep peace. He said that England 
ought not to go to war because it did not like the 
way in which another nation managed its own affairs. 
After the invasion of France, however, by Austria 
and Prussia, the French got the better of their 
enemies, and invaded the country which was then 
known as the Austrian Netherlands, and which was 
very much the same as that which is now known as 
Belgium. Pitt thought that it would be dangerous 
to allow^ France to join to itself a country so near 
England, and just as he was making up his mind 
that he must try to stop the French from doing this, 
the news came that the king of France had been 
executed. A feeling of horror and anger passed over 
almost the whole country, and within a few days 
England and France were at war with one another. 



350 OUTLINE OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

3. English Feeling against the Revolutionists. — 

The mass of the English people, both rich and poor, 
had no wish to see the violence of the French Revo- 
lutionists copied in England. People in general 
were far better off than they were in France, and 
when people are well off they do not usually rise in 
insurrection. But there were people, especially in 
the towns, who thought that there ought to be a 
great many changes made in the Government here, 
and that a much larger number of people ought to 
have votes to elect Members of Parliament. Some, 
no doubt, used very violent language, and even 
spoke of imitating the French Eevolutionists in 
almost everything that they did. This language 
frightened the upper and the middle classes, and 
the House of Commons, supported by the great bulk 
of the nation, resolved to have nothing more to do 
with any changes, and to put down with violence 
all who joined together in asking for them. This 
feeling soon turned into a thorough alarm. Almost 
every European nation joined in the war against 
France. France was again invaded, and the French 
people grew suspicious of every one whom they sus- 
pected of wishing to help the enemy, or even of not 
caring much about keeping him off. Hundreds of 
persons were hurried off to the guillotine and be- 
headed without any fair trial. This was called the 
Reign of Terror, and lasted for more than a year. In 
England and Scotland juries were ready to give 
verdicts, and judges were ready to pass the heaviest 
sentences on all who were trying to urge others to 
ask for Parliamentary Reform, as if they could not 



SECOND PEEIOD. 351 

ask for this without wanting to bring in all the 
horrors which were heard of in France. Pitt per- 
suaded Parliament to pass a law allowing the king 
to imprison without trial those whom he suspected 
to be conspiring against him. Several persons were 
accused of high treason for very doubtful reasons. 
Fortunately for them their trials were delayed till 
after the Eeign of Terror was at an end in France. 
The juries were not so excited then as they had been 
some months before, and they gave verdicts of not 
guilty. After this the excitement died away. 

4. Progress of the War. — ^On land the war against 
France did not prosper. The French reconquered 
the Austrian Netherlands and conquered Holland. 
At sea, Lord Howe defeated the French, near the 

. mouth of the Channel, in a battle known as the Battle 
of the First of June. Then Prussia made peace with 
France. After a time a young French Greneral, 
Napoleon Bonaparte, was sent to Italy. He won a 
number of victories, and drove the Austrians out of 
Italy. So useless did it seem to attempt to stop the 
French conquests that Pitt offered to make peace. 
He and the French, however, were unable to agree, 
and the war went on as before. 

5. The Battle of St. Vincent.— The year 1797 
was one of great danger for England. The Dutch 
and the Spanish had joined the French, and it was 
expected that their fleets would attempt to combine 
with the French fleet against England. The English 
Admirals were ordered to keep them separate. 
Admiral Jarvis came up with the Spanish fleet off 
Cape St. Vincent. There were twenty-five Spanish 



352 



OUTLINE OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 



ships and only fifteen English. Some of the Spanish 
ships were of huge size, as they had been in the days 
of the Armada, and one of them had four decks, and 
guns on each deck. The English ships were not so 
large, but they were better fitted out, and the sailors 
on board them thoroughly understood their work, 
whilst many of the Spanish sailors had never been at 




BATIXB OF CAPE ST. VINCKNT. 

sea before. Yet they were brave men, and the fight 
was a hard one. All the English captains fought well, 
but he who fought the best was Captain Nelson. 
His ship had been terribly knocked about, but he 
ran it close up to a Spanish vessel, leapt on board with 
his men, and took it. He had scarcely got posses- 
sion when the ship of the Spanish Admiral fired 
upon the one which Nelson had just taken. With- 



SECOND PERIOD. 353 

out a moment's delay he leapt on board the Admiral's 
ship too. The Spanish officers at once surrendered 
to him, and brought him their swords. They were 
so many that Nelson gave them to one of his barge- 
men to hold. The man coolly tucked them under 
his arm in ^ bundle, as if they had been so many 
sticks. 

6. The Mutiny at Spithead. — There was a worse 
danger at home than any that could come from a 
Spanish fleet. The sailors who fought the battles 
of England were discontented, and not without 
cause. They were paid at the rate which had been 
settled in the time of Charles IL, though the price 
of provisions which they had to buy had risen a great 
deal since those days. The provisions given them were 
very bad. When they were ill, and even when they 
had been wounded in battle, their pay was stopped till 
they were well again. Order was kept by constant 
flogging, and floggings were given for very small 
offences indeed, and sometimes where no offence 
at all had been committed. The sailors on board 
the fleet at Spithead sent a petition to the Admiralty 
asking for better treatment. As no notice was 
taken of their petition, they mutinied. They 
refused to go to sea when ordered. They would 
obey their officers no longer, till their requests were 
granted. But they did no harm to the officers, and 
contented themselves with sending on shore those 
who had treated them most brutally. The Lords 
of the Admiralty acted wisely. They saw that the 
sailors asked nothing but that which ought to have 
been granted before, and they sent Lord Howe on 

A A 



354 OUTLINE OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

board to tell the men that they should be pardoned, 
and that their requests should be granted if they would 
return to their duty. Lord Howe, who had commanded 
in the Battle of the First of June, was a great favourite 
with the sailors, and they agreed to submit. Their 
grievances were redressed, and though a short time 
afterwards, when they suspected that they were not 
to be treated fairly, they began once more to mutiny, 
the disturbance came to an end as soon as they found 
out that the Admiralty intended to deal honestly 
with them, and after this they never thought of 
mutinying again. 

7. The Mutiny at the Nore. — The mutiny at 
Spithead was scarcely over when another mutiny 
broke out in the fleet at the Nore, near the mouth 
of the Thames. The sailors at the Nore asked not 
merely that the complaints made at Spithead should 
be attended to, just as if they had not been at- 
tended to already, but they asked to command their 
own ships instead of the officers. If the proposal 
had been accepted, the ships would have been of 
no use at all. The mutiny spread to Admiral Dun- 
can's fleet, which was keeping watch over the Dutch 
ships in the Texel, to prevent them from coming 
out to help the French. Most of his ships sailed 
away to join the others at the Nore. At one time 
he was left with only his own ship to guard the 
sea. He boldly remained in sight of the port in 
which the whole Dutch fleet was, and ran up flags 
every now and then, as if he were making signals 
to his other ships. By this means he deceived the 
Dutch, who thought that he had a fleet out of sight. 



SECOND PERIOD. 355 

and they kept quietly in port till he received help 
and became strong enough to fight them if they 
came out. In the meanwhile the Grovernment at 
home got the better of the mutineers. Some of 
their own ships deserted them, and after a time the 
others surrendered. The chief leader of the mutiny 
was hanged, and the rest of the men returned to 
their duty and did good service afterwards. The 
Dutch fleet came out at last, and was defeated by 
Duncan at the Battle of Camperdown. 

8. Bonaparte in Egypt. — Very soon after this 
battle, the French made peace with the Austrians, 
and Pitt tried once more to make peace with 
the French, though again the two governments 
failed to agree, and the war went on. Bonaparte 
sailed with an army to Egypt. On his way he took 
possession of Malta. He then went on to Egypt, 
which was spoken of as part of the Sultan's 
dominions, though it was in reality governed by 
some warlike soldiers called Mamelukes. Bonaparte 
tried to take them in by telling them that the 
French were true Mussulmans. They did not 
believe a word of it, and they fought hard for their 
independence. These fierce horsemen could not stand 
up against the guns of the disciplined French army, 
and they were defeated with great slaughter. The 
battle was named the Battle of the Pyramids, from the 
huge pyramids standing near, which had been raised 
in the days of the Pharaohs, to be the tombs of those 
ancient kings. ' From the tops of the pyramids,' 
said the French general to his men, ' forty centuries 
are looking down upon you.' 

A A 2 



8 56 OUTLINE OF ENGLISH HISTOEY. 

9. The Battle of the Nile. — When Bonaparte was 
on his way to Egypt, Nelson, who had been made an 
Admiral since the Battle of St. Vincent, was sailing 
up and down the Mediterranean in search of him. 
When he reached the coast of Egypt, he found that 
the French army was no longer on board the ships 
which had brought it. Nelson at once attacked the 
ships, which were anchored in a long line near the 
shore. He broke through their line, placing half of 
his own ships between them and the shore, and placing 
half outside. The battle raged far into the night. 
Nelson was wounded and carried below. A surgeon 
ran up to attend to him. ' No,' said the Admiral, 
'I will take my turn with my brave fellows.' His 
wound proved but a slight one. Whilst he was lying 
in his cabin, he heard the sailors on deck calling out 
that the French Admiral's ship was on fire. Wounded 
as he was, he went on deck, and gave orders to send 
out boats to help the Frenchmen to escape from the 
burning vessel. In the end the French were com- 
pletely beaten. 

10. Irish Difficulties.— England could overpower 
the French at sea. There was one country which it 
was easy to keep down, but where it was very hard 
to do good. After the time of William III, the 
native Irish were treated with very great cruelty. 
There was an Irish Parliament which sat at Dublin, 
and no one who was not a Protestant was allowed to 
be a member of it. The laws made by it were very 
oppressive to the Irish Catholics, and it was no 
wonder that they hated bitterly those who ruled 
them so ill. These laws, however, w^ere gradually 



SECOND PERIOD. 357 

put an end to, but the Protestants of English ori- 
gin who ruled Ireland had no feeling of kindness 
towards the Catholic Irish, and did not care to 
help them. Soon after the American War was over, 
the Parliament at Dublin insisted upon making 
itself quite independent of England, which it had not 
been before. Pitt, when he became Minister, saw 
that the best thing to be done for Irishmen was to 
help them to be richer than they were. They were 
not allowed to trade with England without paying 
duties as if they had been foreigners. Pitt therefore 
proposed to give to Ireland freedom of trade with 
England so that they might become better off than 
they had been. Pitt, however, was unable to give to 
the Irish all that they thought they ought to have, 
and the Irish Parliament rejected his proposal. 
They did not understand the proverb which says, 
' Half a loaf is better than no bread.' Even after 
the French Eevolution began, Pitt tried hard to do 
something for Ireland. The Catholics were now 
allowed to vote for members of Parliament, though 
they were not allowed to sit in it, any more than 
they were in England. Pitt at last sent over Lord 
Fitzwilliam to be Lord Lieutenant. He was to 
ask the Irish Parliament to make a law allowing the 
Catholics to become members of Parliament and to 
hold offices in the State. Unluckily some of the 
Irish Protestants came over to England and com- 
plained to the king. Greorge III. thought it would 
be very wicked to allow Catholics to have any power, 
and that if they had it they would use it to hurt the 
Protestant Church. Most of his subjects in England 



358 OUTLINE OF ENGLISH HISTOEY. 

thought so too, and Pitt was obliged to recall Lord 
Fitzwilliam, and the plan about the Catholics had to 
be given up. 

11. The Irish Rebellion of 1798. — It was a most 
unhappy ending to Pitt's first attempt to do good to 
Ireland. He was himself wiser than the English 
king or the English people. To the Irish it seemed 
useless to hope for anything good from England. 
Even some Irish Protestants were now ready to join 
the Irish Catholics, and a society was formed which 
bore the name of the United Irishmen. These men 
invited a French fleet and army to come to their 
help. The fleet and army actually arrived, but the 
general who was to command the army did not come. 
The rest of the expedition waited for him in Bantry 
Bay. A storm drove it out to sea, and not a single 
French soldier landed. In 1798 the Irish rose in 
rebellion. The rebels committed many cruelties, 
burning houses and murdering the people. The 
Irish Protestants who took the side of the English 
Grovernment were as cruel as the rebels, and killed 
all they met without mercy. Things seemed to be 
as bad as they had been at the time of the Long 
Parliament. The rebels formed a great camp at 
Vinegar Hill. By this time an English force was 
ready to attack them, and their camp was taken. 
There were more brutal massacres on both sides. At 
last the Trebels were put down. Then followed scenes 
of the utmost horror. Soldiers and officers and 
magistrates did as they pleased. Irishmen were 
treated with barbarity on the mere suspicion of 
having had something to do with the rebels. One 



SECOND PEEIOD. 



359 




360 OUTLINE OF ENGLISH HISTOKY. 

magistrate was usually known by the nickname of 
Flogging Fitzgerald, and he well deserved it. The 
government in England had no wish to see these 
atrocities continue. Pitt sent over a new Lord 
Lieutenant, Lord Cornwallis, who did all he could to 
stop this oppression. 

12. The Union with Ireland. — Ireland was thus 
divided between two parties, hating one another 
most bitterly. Pitt thought that the best way of 
putting an end to this evil state of things was to 
unite Grreat Britain and Ireland b}^ uniting the two 
Parliaments. He intended to accompany this change 
by admitting the Irish Catholics to offices and to 
seats in Parliament. He found it difficult to per- 
suade the Irish Parliament to consent to the pro- 
posed union. But many of the members were ready 
to take money or promotion for their votes, and so 
he bought their votes, and the union was agreed to. 
Unfortunately, when he came to propose his plan for 
the relief of the Catholics, the King refused to allow 
him to make any change. On this refusal Pitt re- 
signed office. The King had the mass of the English 
people on his side, and even Pitt could do no more. 

13. Addington's Ministry and the Peace of 
Amiens. — The successor of Pitt was Addington, a 
well-meaning man who was not a very wise one. 
Before Pitt resigned there had been great changes 
in France. Whilst Bonaparte was in Egypt, war 
had begun again in Europe, and the Eussians and 
Austrians had beaten the French armies. Bonaparte 
left Egypt, came back to France, and with the help 
of his soldiers turned out the Assemblies which had 



SECOND PEKIOD. 



361 



governed the country. He then proposed to the 
French people to set up a form of government of which 
he was to be the head, with the name of the First 
ConsuL This proposal was accepted, and from that 
time the French allowed Bonaparte to rule them as 
he pleased. He led an army into Italy, beat the Aus- 
trians, and made a treaty of peace, by which it was 
arranged that France should extend as far as the 




COPENHAGEN, 



Ehine. England was now the only country at war 
with France. It made matters worse that the states 
on the Baltic were preparing to resist England, 
because English ships of war stopped their trading 
vessels, to see if they had any goods on board in- 
tended for the use of the French Grovernment. 
Admiral Hyde Parker was sent with a fleet to the 
Baltic. Nelson Avas his second in command, and 



362 OUTLINE OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

when the fleet arrived near Copenhagen, Parker 
directed Nelson to attack the Danish fleet. What 
followed has been told by the poet Campbell. 

Of Nelson and the North, 

Sing the glorious day's renown, 

When to battle fierce came forth 

All the might of Denmark's crown, 

And her arms along the deep proudly shone. 

By each gun the lighted brand, 

In a bold determined hand, 

And the Prince of all the land 

Led them on. . 

Like Leviathans afloat. 

Lay their bulwarks on the brine, 

While the sign of battle flew 

On the lofty British line. 

It was ten of April morn by the chime 

As they drifted on their path, 

There was silence deep as death, 

And the boldest held their breath 

For a time. 

For some hom*s the battle raged fiercely. The Danes 
fought bravely. Admiral Parker, who remained at a 
distance, thought that it would be impossible to beat 
them. He hoisted a signal to Nelson, ordering him 
to stop fighting. Nelson, who had some years before 
lost the sight of one eye, put his telescope to his 
blind eye, and declared that he could not see the 
signal. He ordered his ships to go on with the 
battle. 

Again ! again ! again ! 

And the havoc did not slack, 

Till a feeble cheer the Dane 

To our cheering sent us back ; 

Their shots along the deep slowly boom, 



SECOND PEKIOD. 363 

Then cease— and all. is wail, 
As they strike the shattered sail ; 
Or, in conflagration pale, 
Light the gloom. 

Out spoke the victor then, 

As he hailed them o'er the wave, 

' Ye are brothers I ye are men 1 

And we conquer but to save. 

So peace instead of death let us bring, 

But yield, proud foe, thy fleet, 

With the crews, at England's feet. 

And make submission meet 

To our king.' 

Nelson sent the wounded Danes on shore and told 
the Crown Prince, who ruled Denmark in his father's 
place, that he should consider this the greatest 
victory that he had ever gained, if it led to friend- 
ship between England and Denmark. When he 
landed, the people received him with shouts, to thank 
him for his kindness to the wounded. 

14. The Expedition to Egypt and the Peace of 
Amiens. — About the same time that the battle of 
Copenhagen was fought, an expedition was sent to 
Egypt, to drive out the French who had been left 
behind by Napoleon. The French were defeated, and 
sent home to their own country. Not long after- 
wards, in 1802, a peace was signed at Amiens 
between England and France, and fighting came to 
an end for a little time. 



.^64 OUTLINE OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 



CHAPTEE XL. 

FE9M THE PEACE OF AMIEHS TO THE 
BEaiNNING OE THE PENINSULAR WAR. 

(1802-1808.) 

1. End of the Peace of Amiens. — The Peace of 
Amiens did not last long. Bonaparte had no in- 
tention of satisfying himself with ruling over France, 
even with the new countries which had been added 
to it. He seized upon part of Italy, sent troops 
into Switzerland, and interfered with the Dutch. 
The English Grovernment had promised to give back 
Malta to the knights, but they now refused to do so 
unless the French would give up meddling with 
other countries. Bonaparte was very angry, and 
scolded the English ambassador. Before long the 
war began again. 

2. Projected Invasion of England. — Before the 
Peace of Amiens there had been many people who 
disliked the war with France. Scarcely any one 
had a good word for Bonaparte now. He had begun 
by seizing 10,000 English travellers who had gone 
to enjoy themselves in France. He shut them up 
in prisons, in which they remained for years. Then 
he made preparations for the invasion of England. 
All classes were roused to resist him. The mer- 
chants and tradesmen of London declared their 
readiness to do all that it was possible to do in 
defence of their country ; and the same readiness to 
*5upport the Grovernment spread over the country. 



SECOND PERIOD. 365 

When news came that a French army was being 
collected at Boulogne, and that boats were being 
built to carry it across the Straits of Dover, 
60,000 volunteers offered to come forward to 
defend their homes. A few weeks later the number 
had risen to 300,000. A little later it had almost 
reached 380,000. Bonaparte had come down to 
Boulogne to review his army. He looked across 
the Channel. ' It is a ditch,' he wTote, ' that will 
be leaped over when we shall have the boldness 
to make the attempt.' He did not intend, however, 
to send his boats laden with soldiers across the sea 
without protection. He had a plan in his head by 
which he hoped before long to have a fleet in the 
Channel to guard the passage. In the meanwhile 
the English volunteers were busily drilling. The 
King reviewed the London regiments in Hyde Park. 
Pitt became an officer of volunteers, and exercised 
his men diligently. 

3. Pitt's Second Ministry— Naturally enough, 
there was a strong wish in the country to have a 
batter Prime Minister than Addington. After some 
time Addington resigned, and the King sent for 
Pitt. Pitt proposed that a ministry should be 
formed composed of the best men of both parties. 
Both Whigs and Tories were equally ready to de- 
fend England against invasion, and why should they 
not all work together ? Pitt proposed that Fox 
should join the ministry. He had been bitterly 
opposed to Pitt, but Pitt was ready to be reconciled. 
Fox, too, was ready to be reconciled. The King 
would not hear of employing Fox, whom he had 



366 OUTLINE OF ENaLISH HISTORY. 

never forgiven for joining North in the Coalition 
Ministry. The others who had been Pitt's col- 
leagues in his last ministry refused to join him now 
if Fox was to be excluded. One of these was Lord 
G-renville. ' I will teach that proud man,' said Pitt, 
' that I can do without him.' Pitt became Prime 
Minister, but he had to fill the other offices with 
men most of whom were not at all fit for such 
important posts. 

4. Napoleon's Plan for invading England. — Not 
long after Pitt became Prime Minister, Bonaparte 
changed his title. He was now Napoleon, Emperor 
of the French. The I*ope came all the way to Paris 
to crown him. Napoleon took the crown himself and 
placed it on his own head. His plan for bringing a 
fleet into the Channel was now ready to be carried 
out. He had persuaded the King of Spain to join 
him in the war against England. By Napoleon's 
orders a French fleet came out of Toulon, passed the 
Straits of Gibraltar to Cadiz, picked up a Spanish 
fleet which was there, and sailed off to the West 
Indies. Napoleon expected that the English fleet 
would follow it there, and would lose time, whilst 
the French and Spanish ships returned to Europe, 
and joined another French fleet which was at Brest. 
All of them together were to sail up the Channel, 
and guard the Straits of Dover whilst his army 
crossed. The first part of his expectation was ful- 
filled. Nelson, with only thirteen ships, crossed 
the Atlantic in pursuit of the thirty ships of the 
enemy. When he heard that they had left the 
West Indies he came after them. He did not catch 



SJiCOND PEKIOD. 367 

them, but another British admiral with fifteen ships 
fell in with them, took two Spanish ships, and so 
frightened the rest, that they went off to Cadiz, and 
never even tried to come near the Channel. 

5. The Battle of Trafalgar. — Napoleon was greatly 
disajopointed. He fancied that the failure was 
owing entirely to the cowardice of his admiral, and 
he ordered him to put out to sea again. The poor 
man assured the Emperor that he should certainly 
be beaten. His sailors had long been shut up in 
harbour, and they had not been in the constant 
habit of managing their ships in the rolling seas as 
the English sailors had. Napoleon would take no 
excuse, and the admiral set out with a heavy heart. 
Nelson came up with him off Cape Trafalgar. He 
ordered the signal to be made which told the British 
fleet that ' England expects that every man will do 
his duty,' The French and Spaniards fought well, 
but they had no chance against the trained British 
crews. In the midst of the fight Nelson was shot by 
a man in the rigging of a French ship. He was 
carried below to die. The enemy's force was almost 
entirely destroyed. Never again during the war 
did a French or Spanish fleet put to sea. Yet so 
deeply was Nelson beloved in England, that it was 
doubtful when the news arrived whether joy for the 
victory or sorrow for the loss was greatest. The 
Battle of Trafalgar was for England what Cromwell 
would have called ' a crowning mercy.' Never again 
has an English fleet had to fight a battle against a 
European navy. Our ancestors fought and died 
that England might be free and unconqueredc 



368 OUTLINE OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

6. Pitt's Last Days. — Not long after England lost 
her greatest sailor, she lost her greatest statesman. 
As soon as Napoleon saw that his chance of invading 
England was over, he led his army to attack Austria 
and Russia. He forced an Austrian army to sur- 
render at Ulm, entered Vienna in triumph, and 
defeated the combined Austrian and Russian armies 
at Austerlitz, forcing the Austrians to make peace 
with him. Pitt had hoped much from this alliance. 
His health was no longer what it was, and the last 
bad news crushed him. In January 1806 he died. 

7. The Ministry of all the Talents. — The ministry 
of all parties which Pitt had wished for came into 
office after his death. The King allowed Fox to 
have office. Lord Grenville was Prime Minister. 
This Government was known as the Ministry of all 
the Talents. It did not last long, but it lasted long 
enough to do one great thing. As far as England 
was concerned, it put an end to that horrible slave 
trade which Pitt and Wil^erforce had denounced in 
vain. Fox died a few months after Pitt, but he 
lived long enough to know that English ships would 
no longer be allowed to carry black men across the 
Atlantic into slavery. The other ministers were 
not successful. Napoleon got into' a war with 
Prussia, and won a great victory, after which nearly 
the whole of Prussia submitted to him. Then he 
attacked the Russians. For some time it seemed 
doubtful whether he would succeed in beating them 
or not. They called on England for help. The 
English ministry had sent away its soldiers on use- 
less expeditions, and had none iq spare. The 



SECOND PEEIOD. 369 

Russian army was beaten, and the Emperor of Eussia 
at once made peace with Napoleon. The peace is 
known as the Peace of Tilsit. Before that happened 
the Ministry of all the Talents had ceased to govern. 
It proposed to allow Catholics to be officers in the 
army and navy. The King not only refused to allow 
this, but ordered the ministers to promise that they 
would never even propose to do anything for the 
Catholics again. On their refusal he turned them 
out of office. 

8. State of the Continent after the Peace of Tilsit. 
— The next ministry was headed by the Duke of 
Portland, wiio was an invalid. The real leader was 
Mr. Perceval, who was determined to keep the 
Catholics out of all kinds of offices. As the English 
people agreed with him in this, he was able to do as 
he wished. Amongst the new ministers was George 
Canning, who had been a great admirer of Pitt. 
He was resolved to do all that could possibly be done 
to resist the power of Napoleon. Since JVapoleon 
had made peace with Russia, no one on the Continent 
dared to say a word against him. He did exactly as 
he liked, pulled down kings and set them up at his 
pleasure, and forced the people whom he had conquered 
to pay him enormous sums of money. As he could 
no longer hope to be able to invade England, he tried 
to overpower it by injuring its commerce. He or- 
dered that no one wherever the French powder reached 
— that is to say, as far as the borders of Russia — 
should use any goods brought in by English vessels. 
In consequence of the superiority of the Euglish 
fleets, the inhabitants of all the western and central 

B B 



370 OUTLINE OF ENGLISH HISTOKY. 

countries of Europe had no chance of getting an^ 
goods from beyond the sea except in English vessels, 
as their own vessels would be stopped by the English 
ships. Coffee and tea, sugar and cotton, became very 
much dearer in all these countries. English mer- 
chants tried to smuggle them in, and whenever 
Napoleon's officers found them they seized them. 
The consequence was that the poor grew even more 
angry with Napoleon than the kings and great men 
had been before. Every poor man who found that 
he had to pay much more than he had been accus- 
tomed to pay for his cup of coffee, or for his shirt, 
hated Napoleon. It would not be many years before 
this universal hatred would rouse milHons of people 
in Europe against Napoleon, and w^ould pull him 
down from his power. 

9. The Seizure of the Danish Fleet. — One of Na- 
poleon's designs was to seize the Danish fleet, which 
was a very good one, and to use it against England. 
Canning heard of this, and at once sent a fleet and 
army to Copenhagen. As soon as they arrived, a 
messenger was sent to the Crown Prince, or eldest 
son of thb King, who governed Denmark in his 
father's name, to ask him to give up the Danish 
ships. He was told that if he did so the British 
Government would give them back at the end of the 
war. He refused, and Copenhagen was attacked. 
At last the Danes were forced to give up their ships. 
Napoleon was very angry. He could not imagine how 
Canning had found out the secret. In England a 
great many people who did not know what Canning 
knew were very much displeased, because they 



SECOIND PERIOD. 371 

thought it an unjust thing to take the fleet from the 
Danes. When the fleet returned, George III. spoke 
to the gentleman who had carried the message to the 
Crown Prince, and asked him whether the Crown 
Prince was upstairs or downstairs when he received 
him. ' He was on the ground floor, please your 
Majesty,' was the gentleman's reply. 'I am glad of 
it for your sake,' said the King ; ' for if he had half 
my spirit, he would certainly have kicked you down 
stairs.' 



CHAPTEE XLI. 



FROM THE BEGINNING OF THE PENINSULAS 
WAR TO THE PEACE OF PARIS. 

(1808-1814.) 

1. Spain and Portugal. — Napoleon was not content 
with his victories. His army had never marched 
beyond the Pyrenees, and he disliked nothing so 
much as to be at peace. First, he picked a quarrel 
with Portugal, and sent an army which seized Lisbon. 
Then he looked out for an opportunity to get posses- 
sion of Spain. It happened that Charles IV. King 
of Spain, and his son Ferdinand had quarrelled. 
Napoleon sent for them both to Eayonne, pretending 
that he would make up their quarrel. When they 
arrived, he persuaded the king to give up his crown, 
and at the same time seized the young man and 
sent him into confinement in a distant part of 
France. Then he sent his own brother Joseph to 

B B 2 



372 



OUTLINE OF ENGLISH HISTOEY. 



Madrid, to be king of Spain. The Spaniards were 
disgusted by this treatment. They rose in insurrec- 




tion, and proclaimed Ferdinand king. They sent to 
England for help. Canning at once took up their 



SECOND PERIOD. 373 

cause, and sent them guns and gunpowder and 
money. He also sent an army to Portugal, under 
Sir Arthur Wellesley, who afterwards became the 
Duke of Wellington. He had fought well in India, 
but nobody knew yet how very great a man he was* 
The war which now began in 1808 is known as the 
Peninsular War, because it was fought in the pen- 
insula formed by the two countries of Spain and 
Portugal. Wellesley beat the French in Portugal, 
at Vimiero, and drove them into Lisbon. An, ar- 
rangement was made by which the French army was 
to be allowed to go back to France, leaving Portugal 
free. Soon after this Wellesley returned to England, 
though part of his army remained behind. About 
the same time a French army had to surrender to 
the Spaniards at Baylen, in the south of Spain. 
The Spaniards fancied that their troubles were 
nearly at an end. 

2. Napoleon in Spain. — The Spaniards had plenty 
of trouble before them. Each separate Spaniard 
was ready to fight and to die for his country. But 
they did not fight well when they were together in 
an army. The men were without discipline, and 
did not trust their generals. The generals did not 
deserve to be trusted. They thought it was so easy 
to win victories that they did not take any pains to 
win them. The consequence was, that^ they were 
always beaten whenever they fought battles. Napo- 
leon no sooner heard that his soldiers had been 
taken prisoners than he resolved to come himself to 
Spain. At the head of an army he marched into the 
country, beat the Spaniards, and entered Madrid in 



374 OUTLINE OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

triumph. The English general, Sir John Moore, 
was advancing through the north-west of Spain. 
He hoped that the Spaniards would gather round 
him to fight the French. The Spaniards did nothing 
of the sort. When Moore reached Sahagun he heard 
that Napoleon was coming to attack him with a much 
larger army than his own. He had to retreat, and 
fortunately for him Napoleon went home to France, 
and left one of his generals to follow the English. 

3. The Battle of Coruima. — Sir John Moore 
reached Corunna with difficulty. He had hoped to 
find the English fleet there to take his army on 
board. But a mistake had been made, and the fleet 
had gone to another harbour. Before it could be 
fetched, the French arrived, and a battle had to be 
fought, to drive them off, in order that the tired 
soldiers might get sa'^ely on board. The French 
were beaten, and the men got safely away, but their 
brave commander was killed. He was buried on 
the field of battle by his sorrowing companions. The 
story has been told by a poet named Wolfe : — 

Not a drum was heard, not a funeral note. 
As the corpse to the ramparts we hurried ; 

Not a soldier discharged his farewell shot 
O'er the grave where our hero was buried. 

We buried him darkly at dead of night, 

The sods with our bayonets turning, 
By the struggling moon-beam's misty light, 

And the lantern dimly burning. 

No useless coffin inclosed his breast. 

Not in sheet nor in shroud we wound him, 

But he lay like a warrior taking his rest 
With his martial cloak around him. 



SECOND PEKIOD. 375 

Few and short were the prayers we said. 

And we spoke not a word of sorrow, 
But we steadfastly gazed on the face that was dead, 

And we bitterly thought of the morrow ! 

We thought as we hollowed his nairow bed, 

And smoothed down his lonely pillow, 
How the foe and stranger would tread o'er his head. 

And we far away on the billow ! 



But half of our heavy task was done, 

When the clock struck the hour for retiring. 

And we heard the distant and random gun 
That the foe was sullenly firing. 

Slowly and sadly we laid him down, 

From the field of his fame fresh and gory ; 

We carved not a line and we raised not a stone, 
But we left him alone with his glory 1 

4. Oporto and Talavera. — The next year Wellesley 
was sent back again with a fresh army to Portugal. 
Landing at Lisbon, he marched swiftly to Oporto, 
and drove the French out. Then he returned and 
pushed on towards Madrid. At Talavera he met the 
Fiench army. He had a large Spanish army with 
him as well as his own. But the Spaniards were 
jealous of him and would not fight. The British 
soldiers had to do everything themselves. At last 
they won the victory. The Spaniards gave no help. 
Before long other French armies approached, and 
Wellesley, who was made Lord WelKngton on account 
of the victory, had to go back to Portugal. It 
seemed as if all this fighting had been useless. In 
reality it was of the greatest use. It taught Wel- 
lington that he could not depend on the Spaniards, 



■376 OUTLINE OJ? ENGLISH HISTORY. 

and he never again trusted their promises to help 
him, or marched anywhere at their request. 

5. Walcheren. — Napoleon was by this time en- 
gaged in another, war with Austria. The people of 
the North of Germany was longing to rise against 
his tyranny, but his armies were too strong for them, 
and he had put French soldiers into all the strong 
fortresses in those parts. The English Grovernment 
had an army to dispose of, and if it had been sent to 
the north of Grermany it might have given great 
assistance to the Grermans. Instead of this, Lord 
Castlereagh, who was the minister who managed the 
war, sent it to the Scheldt, to attack Antwerp. The 
command of the army was given to Lord Chatham, 
the eldest son of the great minister. He was not a 
good soldier, or a wise man. The command of the 
fleet was given to Sir Kichard Strahan. Instead of 
sailing quickly up to Antwerp, the commander 
stopped near the mouth of the river, and landed the 
men on the Island of Walcheren. The French 
soldiers from all parts hurried to Antwerp, and made 
the place too strong to be taken. Walcheren is a 
low flat island, and a fever broke out amongst the 
English soldiers, which destroyed a great number of 
them. At last the expedition came back without 
doing anything, and people in England laid the. 
blame on the general and admiral. Some clever 
fellow wrote that 

My Lord Chatham, with his sword drawn, 
Stood waiting for Sir Richard Strahan ; 
Sir Richard, longing- to be at 'em, 
Stood waiting for the Earl of Chatham. 



SECOND PERIOD. 377 

6. Wellington's Difl3.culties in Spain. — Wellington 
had difficulties enough in Spain. He had but few 
soldiers to oppose to the hosts of the French. If 
the French armies could have joined together, they 
must have driven him out of the Peninsula. Yet 
he did not despair. He did not trust merely in his 
own skill, great as it was, so much as in the righteous- 
ness of his cause. He knew how terribly cruel and 
oppressive Napoleon was, and he felt sure that, 
sooner or later, his cruelty would provoke all Europe 
to rise against him. How soon that day would come 
he could not tell, but he felt that it was his buciness 
to wait patiently till the time came. In Spain, the 
French armies, numerous as they were, were already 
in difficulty. The Spaniards could not fight great 
battles, but they could form small groups of men, 
each having his gun in his hand, and firing at small 
parties of Frenchmen. Then too there were always 
a number of French generals in Spain, and they 
despised Joseph, whom Napoleon had made King of 
Spain, because he was not a soldier, and, therefore, 
they would not do as he ordered them. They were 
also very jealous of one another, and never liked to 
help one another, for fear that the other might get 
the credit of any victory that was gained. All this 
helped Wellington very much, because, if he had 
two or more generals against him, he could calcu- 
late that they would not agree what to do. Perhaps 
the treatment which Wellington received from the 
ministers at home was worse for him than the oppo- 
sition of his enemies. Canning ceased to be minister 
about this time, and Mr. Perceval became Prime 



378 OUTLINE OF ENGLISH HISTOKY. 

Minister. The ministers did not think it possible 
that Wellington would ever succeed in conquering 
Spain, and were always talking of ordering him to 
come home. With ali this to endure, he had need 
of the most wonderful patience. His patience was 
as great as that of Washington, and it was this even 
more than his being a great general which enabled 
him to win in the end. 

7. Torres Vedras. — In the year in which the 
Battle of Talavera was fought Napoleon had beaten 
the Austrians. He did not himself come into the 
Peninsula the next summer, but he sent his best 
general, Massena, with orders to drive the English 
into the sea. Wellington knew that he had not a 
large enough army to j&ght him, though he had now 
got a number of Portuguese, who were put under 
English officers, and made excellent soldiers. He 
quietly prepared means to stop him. At Lisbon he 
had a good port, where the English ships could come 
and take his army away if he were forced to leave the 
country, or could bring food for his men as long as 
he chose to stay. He therefore threw up three lines of 
fortifications from the river Tagus to the sea. The 
first one was intended to stop Massena for a time. 
The second one was intended to stop him if he passed 
the first. The third one was intended to protect the 
soldiers if they had to embark, though Wellington 
did not expect to have to use it for that purpose. 
These fortifications are known as the Lines of Torres 
Vedras, from the name of a village near them. When 
Massena reached Portugal, Wellington met him near 
the frontier, and retreated slowly. He had given 



SECOND PEKIOD. 379 

Lrders that all cattle were to be driven away and the 
crops destroyed, in order that the French might find 
nothing to eat. When Massena saw Wellington 
retreating, he thought that everything was going 
well, and that he would soon drive the English to 
their ships. He had not the slightest idea that there 
were any fortifications in the way. When at last 
Wellington's army went behind the first line, the 
French were taken by surprise. Massena took some 
time to think whether he would attack the lines at 
all. The more he tli ought of it the less he liked the 
idea. Week after week passed by, and he did not 
venture to attack. All this while provisions were 
running short in the French camp. At last the half- 
starved Frenchmen had, unwillingly, to retreat. No 
less than 45,000 of them died of hunger and disease, 
or were cut off by the Portuguese if they straggled 
from their ranks. Wellington follow^ed up the retiring 
enemy, and by the next spring there was not a 
Frenchman left in Portugal. 

B. The Regency. — Whilst Wellington was striig- 
Idling with the French, the old King at home ceased 
to have any further knowledge of joy or sorrow. 
The madness, with which in the course of his reign 
he had been from time to time afflicted, came 
down upon him like a dark cloud in 1811. He 
remained insane the rest of his life. He lost his 
eyesight too, and the blind old man was an object 
of affectionate pity to his subjects during the nine 
years which he had still to live. His strong will was 
broken down for ever. His place was taken by his 
eldest son, a selfish and unprincipled man, who was 



380 OUTLINE OF ENGLISH HISTOEY. 

now known as the Prince Eegent, and afterwards a<? 
Greorge TV. That year was marked bj some fighting 
in Spain. At Barossa and Fuentes d'Onoro in the 
spring, and at Albuera in the summer, the British 
gained victories ; but the main object of WelHngton 
was to capture two strong fortresses, Ciudad Eodrigo 
in the north, and Badajoz in the south, which shut 
up the two great roads from Portugal into Spain, 
ff the French held these they might again invade 
Portugal. If Wellington could gain them he might 
invade Spain. The invasion of Spain seemed to him 
now likely to be possible. Napoleon, not content with 
the enormous power which he exercised over all 
western Europe, was threatening Eussia, and Wel- 
lington knew that if Napoleon engaged in war with 
Eussia he would have no soldiers to spare to send to 
Spain. 

9. The Guerillas. — The year 1812 was the one 
which saw the beginning of the ruin of the great 
oppressor. Spain swarmed with armed men, 
moving about separately or in small bands. These 
men were called Gruerillas, which is a Spanish word 
meaning men who fight in small companies, and not 
in great armies. They shot down the French 
wherever they found them straggling, slipping away 
easily amongst the hills or woods, where every path 
was known to them. The French found it as 
difficult to lay hands upon them as a man finds it 
difficult to catch gnats which sting him. If a 
French soldier had to carry a letter, even a short 
way, he needed an escort of at least 200 men to see 
him safely through Spain. An important despatch 



SECOND PEEIOD. 381 

to the Emperor had to be guarded by more than 
1,000 horsemen. The Guerillas seized money or 
provisions going to the enemy's army, and stole the 
horses or the guns. Wellington knew that a great 
part of the French army would be so occupied in 
keeping off the G-uerillas that the whole of it could 
not be gathered into one place to fight him. 

10. The Capture of Ciudad Rodrigo and Badajoz. — 
Wellington was thus able to attack the two great 
fortresses which stopped his road into Spain. In 
the first month of the year he set out for Ciudad 
Eodrigo. He knew that if he did not take it in a 
short time he would not be able to take it at ail, 
because a large French army would arrive to drive 
him off. He had no proper tools for digging trenches. 
The English Grovernment kept their general ill- sup- 
plied in almost everything that he ought to have had. 
Yet the town was taken after great slaughter, and 
the soldiers disgraced themselves by brutal violence 
when they burst into the place. Three months later 
Badajoz was also attacked. Again the British soldiers 
had to rush upon almost certain death, because there 
was no time to wait. Kank after rank, as the men 
charged up the slippery breach, which was guarded 
with a row of sword-blades fixed in a beam, was mown 
down by fire from the French guns like grass before 
the scythe. After a terrible slaughter the town was at 
last taken. When Wellincrton heard of the number 

o 

of the dead, ' the pride of conquest yielded to a pas- 
sionate burst of grief for the loss of his soldiers.' Sad 
to say, th e soldiers who were living were raging madly 
about the streets in drunken fury, slaying and wound- 



382 OUTLINE OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

ing the miserable inhabitants, plundering and de- 
stroying whatever came into their hands. 

11. The Battle of Salamanca. — Happily British 
soldiers would not now behave like wild beasts. 
Wellington had none others to lead. Before long 
he came up with a French army at Salamanca. The 
PVench general moved his troops in an awkward way 
across the field of battle> ' At last,' said Wellington, 
' I have him.' He ordered his men to advance, and 
gained a complete victory. He had gained no such 
victory before. He went to Madrid, where the 
Spaniards received him with the greatest honours. 
King Joseph fled before him. Wellington, however, 
(lid not quite conquer Spain in this year. He 
carried his army to Burgos, and laid siege to it. 
But the French armies gathered round him, and he 
had to go back to Portugal. Yet even this failure, as 
it seemed, was the beginning of success. The French 
armies had to leave the south of Spain, in order to 
meet Wellington in the north, and the south of Spain 
was thus set free from their presence. 

12. Napoleon's Russian Campaig^n. — Whilst Wel- 
lington was fighting at Salamanca and Burgos, 
Napoleon was marching through Eussia. The 
Eussians retreated before him. There was one 
tremendous battle, after which he reached Moscow. 
He expected that the Eussians would make peace 
when he had taken Moscow, but instead of making 
peace they set fire to Moscow. Napoleon and his 
army had nowhere to shelter themselves against the 
bitter cold of the Eussian winter which was coming 
on. Even if they had been able to keep themselyes 



SECOND PEEIOD. 383 

warm at Moscow, they had not provisions enough to 
feed on till summer came, as they had been so sure 
that the Eussians would submit that they had not 
brought large stores with them. There was no help 
for it. They had to go back for hundreds of miles. 
Soon the snow began to fall, and the bitter frosty 
wind swept over the level plains. For a time they 
struggled on. Then they began to give way. The 
hard frost was bad enough to bear when they were 
on the march, but it was terrible at night, when 
they had to lie down on the snow round large fires 
of wood which, large as they were, were not enough 
to warm them. Every morning when they started 
some of their comrades were left behind frozen to 
death. Others lagged behind, worn out with cold 
and fatigue, and dropped dead upon the snow. 
Fewer and fewer they grew as they struggled .on, 
with pale and hunger-stricken faces. Of 400,000 
men who had entered Russia, only 20,000 came out. 
Napoleon's grand army was destroyed. 

13. The TTprising of Prussia and the Battle of 
Vittoria. — The pursuing Russian army advanced into 
Prussia. Prussia and its king resolved to rise against 
Napoleon. From one end of the land to the other 
the cry arose for deliverance. From field and city 
the volunteers poured forth, to be drilled and disci- 
plined, that they might fight worthily for their 
Fatherland. Napoleon came amongst them with a 
new army, for the most part composed of young 
lads. His extraordinary military skill enabled him 
to beat the Russians and Prussians in two great 
battles. Then the Austrians joined his enemiew. 



384 OUTLINE OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

One other battle he succeeded in winning. But the 
number of his enemies and their fierce hatred were 
too much for him to bear up against. At Leipzig, 
in a tremendous battle lasting for three days, he was 
utterly defeated, and with the small remnants of his 
army he made off for France before the year was 
over. Grermany was free. That year Wellington 
had struck down Napoleon's lieutenants in Spain as 
surely as their master had been struck down on the 
plains of Northern Germany. He had now a iiner 
and more numerous army than he had ever had be- 
fore. As he crossed the little stream which sepa- 
rated Spain from Portugal, he stood up in his 
stirrups and waved his hand, crying out, "^ Adieu, 
Portugal ! ' He marched along the road that led 
to France. At Vittoria he came upon the French 
army, in which was King Joseph himself. Joseph 
had abandoned Madrid, to fight one last battle for 
the throne which had brought nothing but misery 
to him. He was utterly defeated. There was a 
long siege of St. Sebastian, At last it was taken, 
and then Spain was as free as Germany. 

14. Napoleon's Last Struggle. — In the first 
months of 1814 Napoleon struggled hard at least 
to maintain his power in France. He fought with 
even more than his usual skill. In the north the 
united armies of Kussia, Prussia, and Austria pushed 
on. They were often beaten, but they pushed on 
still. They were too many to be overcome^ At - 
last they reached and entered Paris. Napoleon 
abdicated, and was sent to the Isle of Elba, off the 
coast of Italy, where he might continue to call him- 



SECOND PEEIOD. 



385 



self Emperor. The Peace of Paris restored peace 
to all Europe. Lewis XVIII., the brother of the 
King Lewis who had been executed, came back to 
be King of France. In the south, Wellington had 
reached Bordeaux after further victories. His last 
battle where he defeated the French was fought at 
Toulouse. 




THE DUKE or WELLINGTON. 



15. Wellington's Military Career. — The English 
general was now Duke of Wellington. He had 
rendered services to his country w^hich no honours 
could repay. When there were few men in Europe 
who did not despair, he did not despair. He was 
hopeful, because he believed that wrong-doing and 
cruelty could not prosper for ever. He fought not 
for glory but for duty. 



c c 



386 OUTLINE OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 



CHAPTER XLII. 

FROM THE PEACE OF PARIS TO THE DEATH 
OF GEORGE III. 

(1814-1820.) 

1. The American Waf and the Return of Napo- 
leon.- — The army which had served Wellington so 
well, and which as he said ' could go anywhere and 
do anything,' was not allowed to rest. It was sent 
to America. Unhappily England was at war with 
the United States. Fortmiately the war came to an 
end after it had lasted two years. In 1815, the year 
after the end of the great war, the Peninsular army 
was really wanted in Europe when it was not to be had. 
Napoleon escaped from Elba and landed in France. 
The restored king had governed so unwisely that 
Napoleon was welcomed by the soldiers and by a great 
part of the people. He entered Paris in triumph, 
and was once more Empsror of the French. 

2. The Battle of Waterloo. — The other nations 
of Europe were not likely to be so well pleased. 
They knew that Napoleon had always picked quar- 
rels with them before, and that if he had time to 
get together a large army he would probably pick a 
quarrel with them once more. They did not want to 
run the chance of being conquered again, and they 
knew that if they were conquered by him he would 
show them, no mercy. They therefore declared that 
they would have no peace with him. England, 
Prussia, Austria, and Russia joined in this declara- 



SECOND PERIOD. 387 

tion. Of the four, England and Prussia were first 
ready. An English army under Wellington, and a 
Prussian army under Blucher, appeared in the 
Netherlands. Napoleon dashed across the French 
frontier to attack them whilst they were still sepa» 
rated. He beat the Prussians and drove them back, 
fancying that they would retreat towards their own 
home, and that the English, who were not nearly as 
many as his own troops, would be left alone to resist 
him. He attacked Wellington at Waterloo. For 
some hours the English army had to resist the 
charges of the French. They held out bravely, 
though most of them had never been in battle be- 
fore. Yet unless they were succoured they would 
hardly hold out to the end. In the afternoon help 
came. The Prussians were seen marching to their 
aid. Napoleon found that he had two armies to 
meet instead of one. The whole French army fled 
in utter rout. Napoleon was once more deposed, 
and gave himself up to the captain of an English 
ship. He was carried to St. Helena, and there he 
was kept in safety till he die'd, that he might no 
more trouble the nations which he had afflicted so 
long. licwis XVIII. was again set upon the throne 
of France. 

3. General Distress. — England was now at peace. 
She had done her duty to Europe. Those who do 
their duty must not expect that it will bring no 
hardships with it. For a man to do his 'duty means 
that he is ready to give up many things that are 
pleasant, and to suffer much which is unpleasant. 
It is so with nations as well as men. There was 

c c2 



388 OUTLINE OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

terrible suffering after the war. Millions of poundi5 
had been spent and lost to the country in supporting 
the war. This and other causes brought about the 
ruin of manufacturers and farmers. The ruin ol 
manufacturers and farmers brought sharp distress to 
the labourers and the artisans. Poor men were laoi^ 
ignorant then than they are now^, and they broke cut 
into riots, as if rioting would give them work, or 
earn them money. 

4. Eomilly as a Criminal-Law Reformer. — The 
Government was frightened. Mr. Perceval, the 
Prime Minister, had been murdered some years be- 
fore, and had been succeeded by Lord Liverpool. 
Lord Liverpool was a man of kind disposition, who 
left the business of governing very much to the 
other ministers, and the other ministers were still 
frightened lest what had happened in France at the 
Eevolution should happen in England. They did 
not like changes to be made, and thought it best 
to keep everything as it was. One man in the 
House of Commons, Sir Samuel Eomilly, thought 
that the cruel laws which had come down from the 
old England of the Plantagenets and Tudors ought 
to be altered. It was law that any one who picked 
a pocket of more than five shillings, or carried off 
goods to the same amount from a shop, should be 
hanged. Some years before Eomilly had induced 
Parliament to agree to abolish the hanging of pick- 
pockets, but the House of Lords refused to abolish 
hanging for those who robbed a shop. Eomilly again 
tried to persuade the House of Lords to be merciful, 
but they were stubborn, and the hangings still w^enton. 



SECOITD PERIOD. 389 

5. Agitation in the Country. — Amongst the arti- 
sans of the north of England a demand arose for 
Parliamentary Eeform. They saw how much was 
amiss, and they thought that if every man had a 
vote, and there was a fresh Parliament every year, 
things would mend. They forgot that the greater 
number of men in England could neither read nor 
write, and that it might be dangerous to subject the 
G-overnment to the control of those who were so 
very ignorant. In London a crowd marched into 
the City, but it was easily driven back and its leaders 
secured by the Lord Mayor and a few citizens. All 
this frightened the Governrnent. They obtained 
from Parliament new laws to enable them to put 
down rebellion. There was no rebellion to be feared, 
though the working-men knew that they were miser- 
able, and wanted to be better off. A large number 
of men collected at Manchester, and set off towards 
London to ask for relief. Some of them had blankets 
rolled up on their backs, perhaps to keep them warm 
by night, so that their procession is known as the 
March of the Blanketeers. They never got further 
than Macclesfield. Some were driven home again, 
some grew tired, and went home of their own accord. 
In Derbyshire a man named Brandreth, who was 
half mad, headed about twenty men with pikes and 
guns, broke into several houses to search for arms, 
and shot one unfortunate man. His numbers in- 
creased to a hundred. They were met by a party of 
soldiers. IMost of them ran away, but some were 
taken. Three of these were hanged, and others sen- 
tenced to various punishments. The Grovernment 



390 OUTLINE OF ENGLISH HISTOKY. 

and Parliament did all that they could do to put 
down these disturbances, but as yet they had no 
thought of setting their minds to find out their 
cause, or to relieve the people from their miseries. 

6. The Manchester Massacre.— For some time the 
conflict between the Grovernment and the working- 
men of the north went on. It was announced that 
a great meeting would be held in St. Peter's Field 
at Manchester to petition for Parliamentary Eeform. 
The Grovernment was afraid that large numbers of 
men, when they came together, would not be content 
with merely preparing a petition. It was known 
that many of them had been drilled by old soldiers. 
According to their own account of the matter, they 
only wanted healthy exercise, and to be able to 
march to and from the meetings in good order. It 
is no wonder that the Government thought that 
they intended to fight. The meeting was to be 
addressed by a man named Hunt, a vain empty- 
headed speaker with a fluent tongue, who was very 
popular at that time. The magistrates determined 
to arrest Hunt, and instead of waiting till the meet' 
ing was over they sent soldiers to seize him in the 
midst of the multitude. The soldiers, who were 
not from the regular army, but yeomanry, chiefly 
composed of master-manufacturers, could not get 
through the thick crowd. They drew their swords 
and cut right and left. The regular soldiers, the 
Hussars, were then ordered to charge. The mass 
fled in confusion, leaving the wounded behind them. 
Six persons Were killed and many more were wounded. 
The Manchester Massacre, as it was called, took place 



SECOND PEEIOD. 391 

in 1819. It had an unexpected effect upon thought- 
ful men all over the country. Till then there had 
been little disposition amongst well-educated persons 
to favour the demands of the artisans. Nobody who 
knew anything about politics could think that it 
would be wise to give every man a vote in those 
days of ignorance. But no one who thought seri- 
ously could doubt that the crowd at Manchester had 
been grievously wronged. When they were attacked 
by the soldiers they had committed no offence against 
the law, and had simply come to listen to speeches 
in a peaceable and orderly way. The Government 
most unwisely declared the magistrates to have acted 
rightly, before they had had time to inquire whether 
they had or not. Parliament was on their side, and 
made new laws, known as The Six Acts, to stop 
seditious meetings. But many people, therefore, 
who had hitherto supported the Grovernment, were 
so disgusted that they began to turn their minds to 
consider whether there might not be some way in 
which things might be altered for the better. 

7. Death of George III. — The year after the 
Manchester Massacre the poor blind, mad old king 
died. His son, the Prince Regent, became kingj 
under the name of Greorge IV. 



392 OUTLINE OF ENGLISH HISTOEY, 

CHAPTEK XLIII. 
HEIGN OF GEORGE IV. 

(1820-1830.) 

1. The Cato-Street Conspiracy. — When many 
people are dissatisfied it often happens that there 
are some who think that the easiest way to have right 
done is to murder those whom they think to be 
guilty. So it had been in the time of the Grun- 
powder Plot, and so it was again now. A man 
named Thistlewood formed a plan with some others 
for killing all the ministers as they were at dinner 
together. The plot is known as the Cato-Street 
Conspiracy, because the conspirators met in Cato- 
Street, a small street near the Edgware Eoad. The 
plot was however found out, and the plotters seized, 
though they succeeded in killing one of the policemen 
sent after them, and in wounding three others. 

2. George Canning; Foreign Policy. — In 1822 
two men entered the Grovernment who did very 
much to change its character, and to lead it in a 
better way. They were Greorge Canning and Eobert 
Peel. Canning became Foreign Secretary, that is 
to say, the minister who has to manage all tlie 
arrangements with Foreign States. The kings 
and emperors of the Continent w^ere much more 
frightened lest there should be rebellions in their 
dominions than even the English Grovernment had 
been, and they agreed to send troops to put down 
any rebellion which might happen, even in states 
which were not their own. An Austrian army had 



SECOND PERIOD. 393 

marched into Italy to put down a rebellion which had 
resulted in establishing a parliament in Naples, and 
soon after Canning came into office a French army 
marched into Spain to put down a rebellion which had 
had the same result at Madrid. The French restored 
the government of the cruel Ferdinand VII., and 
Ferdinand VII. then wanted to send Spanish soldiers 
to Portugal, because Portugal had established a 
parliament. Canning sent British soldiers to the 
help of the Portuguese, and the Spaniards left Por- 
tugal alone. Without going to war Canning did 
much to help the weak against the strong. There 
had been a long struggle in America, in which the 
Spanish colonies, Mexico, Peru, Chili, and others had 
been striving to free themselves from Spain. Can- 
ning came forward to treat them as independent 
states, as they really were. In the east of Europe, 
too, a bitter conflict was being waged. Greece was 
striving to set itself free from the brutal Turks. Most 
of the governments of Europe did not like this, and 
thought that the Greeks were setting a bad ex- 
ample of rebellion. Canning was unable to do any- 
thing for the Greeks, but he let them understand 
that he wished them well. 

3. Peel ; Eeform of the Criminal Law. — Peel had 
become Home Secretary almost at the same time 
that Canning had become Foreign Secretary. He 
had to look after the affairs . of the people at home. 
He set himself at once to do useful work. He took 
up the task which Romilly, who was now dead, had 
begun, and persuaded Parliament to do away with a 
great number of laws inflicting the punishment of 



394 OUTLINE OF ENGLISH HISTOEY. 

death for very slight offences. At the beginning of 
the century there were no less than two hundred 
crimes which were punished by hanging. Any one, 
for instance, who stole fish out of a pond, who hunted 
in the king's forests, or who injured Westminster 
Bridge, was liable to be hanged. The House of 
Commons had again and again voted that men 
should no longer be put to death for such things, 
but the House of Lords had been obstinate. Peel 
insisted that a less punishment than that of death 
should be imposed on those who had been guilty of 
at least a hundred of these small crimes. The 
House of Lords gave way, and it became known 
that there was at last a man in the Government who 
could be trusted to make wise improvements. 

4. Hnskisson's Commercial Reforms. — Another 
member of the Government, Mr. Huskisson, began 
to diminish the payments made when foreign goods 
were brought into the country. It was a commence- 
ment of freedom of trade. People began to see 
that they would be better off by making trade with 
foreign nations as easy as possible, instead of making 
it as hard as possible. What was done was indeed 
only a beginning, but this, and all the other useful 
things that the Government was now doing, helped 
to put an end to all that ill-feeling which had caused 
such trouble a few years before. There were now no 
Manchester Massacres or Cato-Street Conspiracies, 
because Government and Parliament were doing 
their best to help the people, instead of merely 
doing their best to keep them down. 

5. The Catholic Association. — There had been 



SECOND PEEIOD. 395 

formed in Ireland a society known as the Catholic 
Association. Its object was to obtain for Catholics 
the right of holding offices and sitting in Parlia- 
ment. At its head was Daniel O'Connell. He was 
a most eloquent speaker, and he had a good cause. 
The Catholic Association became so powerful in 
Ireland that many people in England were fright- 
ened lest it should bring about a rebellion. A law 
was passed to put an end to it, but the law was so 
badly made that the Association was able to go on 
just as if there had been no law at all. Fortunately 
there were men in Parliament who could understand 
that what the Association asked ought to be granted. 
The House of Commons passed a Bill for giving to 
the Catholics their rights. Canning was in favour 
of this. Peel Avas against it. The House of Lords 
rejected the Bill, and nothing more was done for 
some years. 

6. The Representative System. — Another matter 
about which there had been much discussion was 
Parliamentary Eeform. There were many great 
towns in England, such as Birmingham, Man- 
chester, and Leeds, which sent no members to 
Parliament. There were many little villages which 
sent two members apiece. Of course the villagers 
did not really choose the members to please them- 
selves. They had to give their votes to the man 
who was recommended to them by the great land- 
owner on whose estates they lived. Sometimes even 
there were no villagers to vote. One borough send- 
ing members to Parliament was only a ruined wall 
in a gentleman's park. Another was a grassj 



39 OUTLINE OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

mound. Another had for some centuries been under 
the sea. In Scotland matters were even worse. In 
the county of Bute there were only twenty-one 
electors. On one occasion only one of these ap- 
peared at the time of election. He voted for him- 
self, and so became a Member of Parliament. The 
noblemen and gentlemen who were able to make the 
voters elect whom they pbased considered the votes 
of these men as their own property. If they were 
in want of money they got it by selling the post of 
Member of Parliament to any one who would pay 
them for it. There were places where there was a 
large number of electors, and where they really 
chose whom they liked. But they very often liked 
to choose those who bribed them most highly. 

7. Parliamentary Reform. - Before the French Re- 
volution attempts had been made to alter this state of 
things. When the French Revolution came it was 
impossible to induce Parliament to listen to any plan of 
reform. Because the French had violently done away 
with their bad government, Englishmen were afraid 
to improve their good one. They were too frightened 
to be reasonable, and they fancied that if they put 
an end to a few rotten boroughs, as the little vil- 
lages which returned members to Parliament were 
called, they would somehow or another pull down 
the king's throne, and bring a Reign of Terror into 
England. By the time which we have now reached 
this feeling had passed away. Men of ability and 
education were ready to ask whether things might 
not be improved. A majority in the House of Com- 
mons had already resolved to do justice to -the 



SECOND PEEIOD. 397 

Catholics. But it was easier to do justice to the 
Catholics than to reform Parliament. There were so 
many members who found it easy to get into Parlia- 
ment by getting the favour of a Duke or Lord, who 
would not find it easy to get in if they had to get 
the votes of the inhabitants of a large town. Be- 
sides this there were others who objected to the 
change for better reasons. Even Canning, who was 
in favour of the Catholics, was against Parliamentary 
Eeform. He thought that if noblemen and gentle- 
men were no longer able to name members of 
Parliament, there would be fewer men of real intel- 
ligence and ability elected. Whilst this feeling pre- 
vailed, there was no chance that the House of Com- 
mons would listen to any scheme of Parliamentary 
Eeform, unless some one was found to propose it, 
who would be content to ask for only a slight change 
at first. Nobody who asked for universal suffrage, or 
for anything like it, would get anyone to follow him. 
Fortunately a young man, Lord John Eussell, took 
the matter up. Even before the death of George 
III. he had persuaded the House of Commons to 
disfranchise four boroughs where the votes were 
openly sold ; tha,t is to say, to take away from 
them the right of electing members of Parliament. 
As usual, the Lords refused to assent to the change. 
After that Lord John Eussell got one little Cornish 
village disfranchised. He proposed to give the right 
to Leeds. The Lords gave it to Yorkshire. After 
this some time passed before anything more was 
done. 

8. The Canning and Goderieh Ministries. — In 



398 OUTLINE OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

1827 Lord Liverpool died. As soon as it was known 
that he was too ill to remain at his post he resigned. 
Canning became Prime Minister. Grreat things 
were expected from him. He had not been three 
months in office when he was taken ill and died.. 
Canning was succeeded by Lord Groderich, whose 
ministry only lasted for a very short time. Dmdng 
that time important news arrived from the East. 
The Greeks had for some years been fighting for 
their independence against the Turks. Some Eng- 
lishmen went to their help ; amongst others the 
great English poet Lord Byron, who died of a fever 
caught in an unhealthy swamp. The Turks, not 
being themselves able to conquer them, sent to 
the Egyptians for help. An Egyptian army landed 
in Grreece, and committed great atrocities, killing 
the people, and destroying everything that it was 
possible to destroy. A fleet composed of English, 
French, Austrian, and Eussian ships was sent to 
Greece, and destroyed the Turkish fleet at Navarino. 
In consequence of this, the Egyptian army left 
Greece, and the war came to an end. Not long 
afterwards Greece became an independent state. 

9. The Welling^ton Ministry and the Repeal of the 
Test and Corporation Acts. — The Duke of Wellington 
followed Goderich as Prime Minister. Peel was again 
Home Secretary, an office which he had given up 
when Liverpool resigned. The new Ministers agreed 
to a Bill proposed by Lord John Kussell for the relief 
of the Dissenters. By the laws made in the time of 
Charles II. they were forbidden to hold offices in 
towns or under the Government. Lord John Eussell 



SECOND PERIOD. 399 

had taken up their cause. He proposed that the 
law should be repealed, and he accomplished his 
object without difficulty. 

10. The Clare Election. — The Ministers had given 
way about the Dissenters, but they had made up 
their mind not to give way to the Catholics. But 
they had not been long in office before they dis- 
covered that it would be very difficult to resist much 
longer. There was an election in Ireland in the 
county of Clare. Though Catholics could not sit in 
Parliament, they were allowed to vote for members. 
O'Connell was elected. As he was a Catholic he was 
by law unable to sit in the House of Commons. Yet 
it was certain that whenever Parliament was dis- 
solved, almost every county in the three provinces 
of Leinster, Munster, and Connaught would elect a 
Catholic. In the fourth province, that of Ulster, 
Protestants were as numerous, perhaps more nume- 
rous, than the Catholics. Protestants and Catholics 
spoke angrily of one another, and it seemed very 
likely that they would take arms against one 
another. The cruel massacres and outrages which 
had desolated Ireland in 1798 might come again 
in 1829. 

11. Catholic Emancipation. — Both Wellington 
and Peel had been all their lives against the Catho- 
lics. The majority of the English people probably 
agreed with them. They were afredd that if the 
Catholics got power they would use it to hurt the 
Protestants. Wellington, however, had seen what 
war was, and he had no wish to see a civil war break 
out in Ireland. Anything, he thought, would be 



40 OUTLINE OF ENGLISH HISTOKY. 

better than that. He resolved to give way. A Bill 
was brought into Parliament and passed into a law, 
that from that time Catholics should have equal 
rights with their Protestant fellow-subjects. It was 
one of the few reforms which have been made against 
the popular feeling in England. Perhaps if Parlia- 
ment had been reformed and the great towns had 
got their right of voting, it might not so easily have 
been carried. 

12. The New Police. — Another improvement of a 
different kind was owing to Peel. The police in 
London, whose business it was to take up thieves 
and other criminals, did not do their duty. Peel 
introduced much better policemen, who were well dis- 
ciplined. The example was afterwards imitated in 
the rest of England. The nickname of ' Peeler,' 
which is sometimes used for a policeman, is derived 
from Peel's surname, and the other nickname of 
* Bobby,' from his Christian name Kobert. In June 
1830 King Greorge IV. died. 

13. Roads and Coaclies. — Together with the poli- 
tical improvements w^hich w^ere being introduced, 
there were others which produced great advantages 
of another kind. Trade and manufactures had 
grown so much that the canals which had been made 
in the beginning of the reign of G-eorge III. were 
no longer sufficient to convey the goods which had 
to be carried from one part of the country to an- 
other. It was true that the ordinary roads were 
much better than they had formerly been. Telford 
had taught roadmakers that it was better to go round 
a hill than to go over it. Macadam had suggested 



SECOND PEEIOD. 401 

that, by breaking up stones, a hard surface could be 
made in which carriages could pass without sinking 
in the mud up to the axle-trees, as used to be the 
case, and had made travelling much easier than it had 
once been. . Coaches flew about the country at what 
was then thought the wonderful rate of ten miles an 
hour instead of crawling along at the slowest possible 
pace. But the new coaches would not carry heavy 
goods, and more than one person had hit upon the 
idea that a steam-engine might be employed to do 
the work. Of many attempts not one succeeded till 
Greorge Stephenson took the matter in hand. 

14. Railways and Locomotives. — Greorge Stephen- 
son was born in Northumberland, a poor collier's son. 
He learnt something about machinery in the colliery 
in which he was employed, and after he was grown 
up he saved money to pay for instruction in readino- 
and writing. He began as an engineer by mendino- 
a pumping-engine, and after making some other 
engines he tried to make a locomotive. The new 
engine was not successful at first, but he improved 
it till it did all that it was required to do. It 
dragged trucks of coal from the colliery more easily 
and cheaply than horses could do. Some years later 
the first real railway was made between Stockton 
and Darlington. As yet however Stephenson's en- 
gines did not go very fast. The next railway to be 
made wag one between Liverpool and Manchester, 
Stephenson made it go over Chat Moss, a bog over 
which a man could not walk, ^yhen the railway was 
made, the proprietors began to be frightened at the 
idea of using st^.am engines. .Stephenson persuaded 

D D 



402 OUTLINE OF ENGLISH HISTOEY. 

tliem to offer a prize for the best locomotive. Foul 
inventors sent engines to be tried. Stephenson's, 
which was called ' The Kocket,' was the only one which 
would move at all. The other inventors asked to be 
allowed to try again, but they did not succeed on 
the second day any better than they had on the first. 
^ The Rocket ' set off at the rate of thirty-five miles an 
hour. After that nobody doubted that the line must 
be worked by steam-, and before long there was scarcely 
a town in England which did not want to have a 
railway. Yet there were exceptions. The people of 
Northampton, for instance, preferred to stick by the 
old ways, and that is the reason why travellers from 
London to Northampton have to change carriages at 
Blisworth and go by a branch line which was made 
after the inhabitants of Northampton had repented 
of their folly, too late to bring the main line of the 
London and North-Western Railway through their 
town. 



CHAPTER XLIV. 
REIGN OF WILLIAM IV. 

(1830-1837.) 

1. The End of the Wellington Ministry. — In 1830 
Greorge IV. died. His brother William IV. was the 
new king. He had only been on the throne a few 
weeks when there was another Revolution in France. 
The king, Charles X., tried to govern against the 



SECOND PERIOD. 



403 



wishes of the people. There was an insurrection in 
Paris, and the king was forced to fly from the 
country. His distant cousin, Louis Phihppe, became 
king of the French. This news caused a good 
deal of excitement in England. People began to 




WILLIAM IV. 



think that if foreign nations could do so much. 
Englishmen might try to get rid of the rotten 
boroughs, and to send members to Parliament who 
would really represent the people, instead of repre- 
senting the 8;reat landowners. The Whigs w^ere in 
favour of Parliamentary Eeform. Many of them 

D D 2 



404 OUTLINE OF ENGLISH HISTOEY. 

were themselves owners of boroughs, but they were 
ready to give them up for the good of the nation. 
A new Parliament was elected in which there were 
many more Whigs than in the old one. They would 
perhaps have been contented at this time without mak- 
ing any very great change, if the Duke would have 
agreed to do something. But the Duke declared that 
there ought to be no reform at all. Whilst this dis- 
satisfied the Whigs, the Tories were still angry with 
him because he had displeased them by what he had 
done for the Catholics. The majority of the House of 
Commons declared against him, and he resigned office. 
2. The Reform Bill. — The next ministry was 
composed of Whigs and of the followers of Can- 
ning. The Prime Minister was Lord Grrey. He 
and his colleagues resolved to bring in a Eeform 
Bill. The bill was introduced into the House of 
Commons by Lord John Eussell. Neither friends nor 
enemies expected him to propose so great a change 
as he did. Sixty small boroughs returning 119 
members were to be disfranchised entirely. Forty- 
six more were to return only one member instead of 
two. Most of the seats thus at the disposal of the 
ministry were given, in almost equal proportions, to 
the counties and the great towns, a few being 
reserved for Scotland and Ireland. Both in towns 
and counties a large number of persons were to be 
allowed to vote who had never had a vote before. 
If the bill passed, the government of the country 
would be controlled by the middle classes, and no 
longer by the great landowners, as had been the case 
before. Inside the House of Commons the Tories 



SECOND PERIOD. 40.5 

were strong. When the House was asked whether 
it approved of the Bill or not, the majority which 
approved of it was only stronger than the minority 
which disapproved of it by a single vote, and after 
this a majority voted that it should be altered in an 
important particular. The Government resolved to 
withdraw the Bill and to dissolve Parliament, in 
order that the electors all over the country might 
say what they thought. 

3. The Reform Bill rejected by the Lords.^ — There 
was very little doubt what the electors would think. 
Even under the old system of voting there were 
the counties and large towns which voted as they 
pleased, and in times of great excitement the towns 
of a middle size would refuse to vote as they were 
bidden, whilst some of the very small towns were 
under the influence of Whig landowners. From one 
end of the country to the other shouts were heard of 
' The Bill, the whole Bill, and nothing but the Bill.' 
The new House of Commons, unlike the last, had 
an enormous Whig majority. The Eeform Bill was 
again brought in and was carried through the House 
of Commons. The House of Lords rejected it. 

4. Public Agitation. — The news was received 
with a torrent of indignation. Meetings were 
everywhere held to support the Government, and in 
some towns there were riots and disturbances. In 
the House of Commons, Macaulay, a young man, 
afterwards famous as the historian of the reigns of 
James II. and William. III., called on the House of 
Commons to stand forward to prevent the excitement 
degenerating into deeds of violence. ' In old times,' 



406 OUTLINE OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

he said, ' when the villeins were driven to revolt hy 
oppression, when a hundred thousand insurgents 
appeared in arms on Blackheath, the king rode up 
to them and exclaimed " I will be your leader," and 
at once the infuriated multitude laid down their 
arms and dispersed at his command. Herein let us 
imitate him. Let us say to our countrymen " We 
are your leaders. Our lawful power shall be firmly 
exerted to the utmost in your cause ; and our lawful 
power is such that it must finally prevail." ' Outside 
Parliament there were men who thought that 
nothing but force would bear down the resistance of 
the Lords. At Birmingham a great meeting was 
held by a society called the Birmingham Political 
Union, at which those who were present engaged to 
pay no taxes if the Keform Bill were again rejected. 
At Bristol there were fierce riots, houses were burnt, 
and men were killed. 

5. The Reform Bill becomes Law. — Fortunately 
the Government and the House of Commons were as 
earnest as the people. A third Eeform Bill, slightly 
altered from the former ones, was introduced as soon 
as possible, and carried through the Commons. Some 
of the Lords thought that they had resisted enough. 
It was known too that the king had consented to 
create new peers who would vote for the Eeform 
Bill. Upon this many peers stayed away from the 
House, and in the spring of 1832 the Bill was 
accepted by the Lords and became law. 

6. Abolition of Slavery, and the new Poor-law. — 
After so great a change the two parties began to 
take new names. Instead of Whigs and Tories, 



SECOND PEHIOD. 407 

people began to talk of Liberals and Conservatives. 
The liberals had a good deal of work to do. Wlien 
the slave-trade had been abolished, the negroes who 
were in the West Indian Colonies remained as slaves. 
A law was now passed to set them free, and a large 
sum of money was voted to recompense their mas- 
ters for the loss. Then too there was a change 
in the E-iglish Poor-law, intended to prevent nionej 
being given to those who were idle. It was thought 
right that no one should be allowed to starve, but 
that people who would not work if they could, must 
not be living upon the money of those who are in- 
dustrious. 

7. Dismissal of the Government, and Peel's first 
Ministry. — Besides these a good many other right 
and wise things were done. For this very reason 
the Government became less popular than they had 
been. There are always a large number of people 
who have an interest in things remaining as they 
are, and they usually grow very angry when im- 
provements are made. Besides the people who dis- 
liked the Grovernment because it did right, there 
were also people who disliked it because it made 
mistakes. The Conservatives, too, were growing in 
favour. Peel, who led them in the House of Com- 
mons, was a prudent man, and many persons began 
to think that he could manage things better than 
the ministers could. Then the ministers disagreed 
amongst themselves. Some of them resigned. At 
last Lord Grrey resigned, and Lord Melbourne, one of 
the other ministers, became Prime Minister. The 
king soon afterwards dismissed Lord Melbourne, and 



408 OUTLINE OF ENGLISH HISTOEY. 

made Sir Eobert Peel Prime Minister, Peel dis- 
solved Parliament, and a great many more Conserva- 
tives were elected than had been chosen to the last 
Parliament. But they were not enough to form a 
majority, and Peel resigned. Lord Melbourne came 
back into office. 

8. Lord Melbourne's Ministry. — Lord Melbourne's 
ministry was not very successful. Its members were 
not good men of business, and the Conservatives 
were nearly as numerous as the Liberals in the 
House of Commons, and much more numerous in 
the House of Lords. People in the country were not 
very enthusiastic in favour of the ministry. Never- 
theless, they did some good things. They reformed 
the municipal governments of the towns, so that 
the mayors and aldermen would be elected by the 
greater part of their fellow-citizens, instead of being 
elected only by a few. Other things they did ; but 
whilst the Conservatives thought they did too much, 
there were some Liberals who w^anted much more to 
be done, and thought they did too little. In 1837 
William IV. died. 



CHAPTER XLV. 



FEOM THE ACCESSION OF VICTOEIA TO THE 
FALL OF THE MELBOUEKE MINISTRY. 

(1837-1841.) 

1. State of the Country. — William IV. left no son 
to succeed him. His niece, Queen Victoria, as- 



SECOND PERIOD. 



409 



cended the throne. She was young, and was popular 
from the first. There were difficulties enough be- 
fore the Government, and the Government was not 
competent to meet them. liord Melbourne was an 
easy-going man, who disliked the idea of taking 




PORTRAIT OF THE QUEEN. 



trouble. Often when he was asked how some diffi- 
cult thing could be done, he asked lazily, ' Can't you 
let it alone ? ' There were large masses of people in 
England in misery. Both the agricultural and the 
manufacturing poor were in great distress. Wages 
were low and the price of food was high. Soon 



410 OUTLINE OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

after the end of the war with France, Parliament 
had passed a Corn Law, imposing a heavy duty on 
foreign corn. It was thought that if corn came in 
from abroad it would be sold cheaply, and then the 
farmers and landlords could not get enough for their 
corn to enable them to make a livelihood,, and that 
the land would go out of cultivation. In this way 
bread was made very much dearer than it w^ould 
have been if foreign corn had come in. Besides 
this, there was no care taken for the health of the 
poor. There were no inspectors to see that the fac- 
tories were airy enough for the workers to breathe 
properly in. The hours of labour were very long, 
and women and children were put to work much too 
hard for their strength. In the collieries, especially, 
women and children had to drag about heavy carts. 
In the country the cottages of the labourers were often 
very unhealthy and over-crowded. Very few knew 
how to read and write, so that they had no chance 
of learning how to join together to help themselves. 
2. The People's Charter. — When people are dis- 
satisfied, the first thing they think of usually is that 
if they had political power they could set everything 
right. So it was now. Large numbers of men sup- 
ported what was called * The People's Charter,' and 
were therefore called Chartists. It had six points, 
(1) universal suffrage for all men, (2) division of the 
kingdom into equal electoral districts, (3) vote by 
ballot, (4) annual Parliaments, (5) permission for 
every man to be elected whether he had property 
in land or not, (6) payment to members of Par- 
liament. Of these, two, the third and the fifth, 



SECOND PERIOD. 411 

have now become law. At that time both the 
gentry and the shopkeepers were very much alarmed 
when they heard what a number of Chartists there 
were. Some of these Chartists talked of getting 
what they wanted by force, and that frightened a 
good many people. The Chartists were, however, 
certainly right in wanting to be represented in 
Parliament. The Eeform Bill had arranged the 
right of voting so that the shopkeepers had votes, 
but very few, if any, of the working men. Still it 
was probably as well that the working men had to 
wait some years for their votes, and that many in- 
justices were removed first, so that when they did 
get power they did not come to it angrily as they 
would have done at that time. 

3. Post-Office Reform. — It was not likely that 
Lord Melbourne's ministry would have done much 
to relieve the general suffering. But one reform it 
effected which has given happiness to millions. One 
day a young man named Eowland Hill was walking 
in the north of England. As he passed a cottage a 
postman arrived with a letter. A girl came out, took 
the letter, and gave it back to the postman. In 
those days the charge for postage was very great, a 
shilling or two being an ordinary charge, as the pay- 
ment rose higher with the distance. The receiver 
of the letter, not the sender, had to pay, though he 
need not take in the letter unless he liked. In this 
instance Eowland Hill felt compassionate towards 
the girl, paid the postage, and gave her the letter. 
When the postman was gone she told him that she 
was sorry that he had done it, as there was nothing 



412 OUTLINE OF ENGLISH HISTOEY. 

written in the letter. Her brother had gone to 
London, and they had agreed that as they were too 
poor to pay the postage, he should send her a plain 
sheet of paper folded up. She would always return it, 
but as long as these sheets of paper came regularly, 
she would know that he was in good health. This 
story set Eowland Hill thinking, and he considered 
that it would cause much happiness if postage were 
reduced to a penny whatever distance the letter went. 
The number of letters would so increase that a large 
number at a penny would bring in more than a 
small number at a shilling. It would be necessary 
to charge the penny to the sender, by making him 
buy postage stamps, as when the number of letters 
became very great the postman would not have time 
to stop at every door to collect pennies. This idea 
was much laughed at at first, but at last the Govern- 
ment took it up. First of all postage was reduced 
to fourpence, and after a little while to a penny. 
The system of low payments and of postage stamps 
has since been adopted by every country in the civil- 
ised world. 

4. Education. — Soon after the Eeform Bill a be- 
ginning was made in helping the spread of education 
with the money of the nation. A sum of 20,000Z. 
was given to help two private societies which had 
been doing their best to educate. Two years after 
the Queen's accession the sum was increased to 
30,000^. It was proposed that this should -be em- 
ployed by Vxie direction of some members of the 
Government, and that a school should be set up to 
train the teachers. There was such a resistance to 



SECOND PERIOD. 413 

this proposal that it had to be altered a good deal. 
But enough was done to make a beginning, and 
from that time it began to be understood that it was 
the duty of the G-overnment to see that the people 
were taught. 

5. The Queen's Marriage. — The marriage of the 
Queen called forth afresh expressions of loyalty 




PORTKAtT OV PRINCE ALBERT. 



from every part of the kingdom. Her cousin, 
Prince Albert of Saxe Coburg, who became her hus- 
band, was a man of varied learning and accom- 
plishments. What was of greater importance, he 
brought with him an affectionate devotion to his 
young wife, which caused him through his whole 
life to throw away all thoughts of personal ambi- 



414 OUTLIXE OF EN^aLTSH HISTOEY. 

tion, and a prudence and tact which made him her 
wisest counsellor. He never considered anything to 
be beneath his notice, and always did his best to 
understand thoroughly whatever was worth under- 
standing at all. Once a man came to the palace to 
fit up a new glass chandelier. Prince Albert saw 
him and talked to him. When the man came 
away he said that the Prince seemed to know more 
about chandeliers than he did himself. The Prince 
knew more about many things than Englishmen 
were aware of, and he took great pains to encour- 
age whatever he thought would be for the good of 
the people. 

6, Lord Palmerston and the Eastern Question. — 
Soon after the Queen's marriage there was very near 
being a war between England and France. The 
minister who managed Foreign Affairs was Lord 
Palmerston. He had had the same office in Lord 
Grey's ministry, and had then done all that he could 
to help the nations in Europe which were trying to 
be governed by kings with parliaments instead of 
being governed by kings without parliaments. His 
attention had latterly been chiefly directed to the 
East of Europe. Turkey was growing weaker every 
year, because the Sultan did not know how to govern 
properly. The Turks had conquered that part of 
Europe more than four hundred years before, just as 
the Normans had once conquered England. But 
they did not unite with their subjects as the Nor- 
mans did with the English. Their subjects were 
Christians and they were Mahometans. The poorer 
Turks were honest and brave^ and would bear suffer- 



SECOND PERIOD. 415 

ing so patiently that they astonished Europeans 
who went amongst them ; but the rich Turks who 
governed thought only of becoming wealthy, and 
did not mind what they did to grow richer than they 
were. Besides this, all Turks were very ignorant, and 
did not care to learn how to govern properly. Their 
great enemy w^as Eussia. The Eussians had taken 
from them one province after another. Lord Pal- 
merston was afraid lest Eussia should gradually go 
on till it conquered all Turkey, and he thought that 
Eussia would then be so powerful as to be dangerous 
to other European states, and especially to Turkey. 
The only way of stopping this that he could think 
of was to keep the Turks in possession of all that 
they had got, in hopes that some day or other they 
would find out that it was to their own advantage to 
govern w^ell. 

7. Mehemet All driven out of Syria. — Whilst 
Turkey was growing weak, the ruler of Egypt, 
Mehemet Ali, had been growing strong. He was a 
resolute man with a well-disciplined army, and some 
years before he had conquered Syria from the Turks. 
The Sultan sent an army to drive him out, but he 
beat the Turkish army, and would have gone on to 
take Constantinople, if he had been allowed. Lord 
Palmerston was so anxious to save Turkey that he 
persuaded Eussia, Austria, and Prussia to sign a 
treaty to stop the Egyptians. As the French did 
not agree to this, they were left out of the treaty. 
They were so angry that a war very nearly broke out 
between France and England. Happily the ill- 
humour cooled down. Mehemet Ali was driven out 



416 OUTLINE GF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

of Syria, and the Turks had one more chance of try- 
ing whether they could go\ern decently. 

8. The Fall of the Melbourne Ministry. — At last 
the Melbourne ministry came to an end in 1841. 
Having done so little for so many years, it sud- 
denly announced an intention of doing very great 
things indeed. It was going to lower the duties on 
corn. The ministers did not gain anything by their 
proposal. People thought that they offered to make 
corn cheap, not because they cared about cheap corn 
but because they wanted to remain in office. There 
was a dissolution of Parliament, and in the new 
Parliament there was a great majority against them. 
They resigned office, and Sir Eobert Peel became 
Prime Minister. 



CHAPTEE XLA^I, 
THE MINISTRY OE SIR ROBERT PEEL. 

(1841-1846.) 

1. Commercial Eree Trade. — Peel was at the 
head of the Conservative party, but he was bent on 
improving all that he saw to be amiss, though he 
took some time to find out all that was wrong. 
He and his followers were determined that the 
duties on corn should continue to be paid. He 
made some alteration in the way in which they were 
to be paid, but he did not mean to do any more. 
He thought thnt trade would flourish much more 



SECOND PERIOD. 417 

if the duties were lowered or taken off a great 
many articles of commerce. Every year lie took o& 
duties, and it was found that the more taxes he took 
off the more was the amount of money paid in the 
taxes which remained. Manufacturers became richer 
when they could buy articles to use in their factories 
without having to pay duties on them. The whole 
people was better off than before, and after this 
there was much less misery than there had been. 

2. The Invasion of Afghanistan.— Peel had not 
been long in office when bad news arrived from 
India. Gradually since the day when Clive won thp 
Battle of Plassey, the English had conquered India. 
Their dominions now reached as far as the Sutlej, one 
of the five rivers which form the great stream of the 
Indus. Some way to the eastward was the moun- 
tainous country known as Afghanistan. The Afghans 
by whom it was inhabited were hardy and warlike. 
There was a panic amongst the English in India. 
It was believed that the Kussians, who were making 
conquests in central Asia, meant to invade India 
some day, and that Dost Mahomed, the ruler of 
Afghanistan, was their friend. It was determined to 
invade his territory, to dethrone him, and to set up 
another ruler in his stead. The British army de- 
feated the Afghan troops, took the fortresses, and 
reached Cabul in safety. Dost Mahomed himself 
won a victory over some Indian cavalry in the British 
service, and then delivered himself up as a prisoner^ 

3. The Rising of the Afghans. — A British force 
remained to occupy Cabul. Sir William Macnaghten 
had charge of all political arrangements. He fancied 

EE 



418 OUTLINE OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

that all difficulties were at an end. Suddenly an 
insurrection broke out in Cabul. Some of the most 
notable of the British officials were murdered. Still 
there were British soldiers enough to attack the 
Afghans with every chance of success. Unhappily 
their commander, General Elphinstone, could not 
make up his mind to run the risk. He waited to 
see what would happen, and before long his position 
was hopeless. Food was failing, and the number of 
the enemies was increasing. Macnaghten and 
Elphinstone entered into negotiations with the 
Afghans. The Afghans offered to give them food if 
they would give up the forts by which the British 
were protected. The forts were given up, and the 
Afghans learnt by this to despise their enemies. 
Akbar Khan, Dost Mahomed's son, invited Mac- 
naghten to a conference, and treacherously shot him 
dead with a pistol which Macnaghten had given him 
the day before. The British officers, instead of re- 
solving to fight to the last, entered into a treaty 
with the murderer, in w^hich he engaged to protect 
the army on its way back to India. 

4. The Retreat from Cabul.— The retreat began 
sadly. It was winter, and amidst those lofty moun- 
tains snow and ice lay thickly on the path. Akbar 
Khan did what he could to protect the retreating 
soldiers, but he could not do much. Crowd's of 
fierce Afghans were posted on the rocks and on the 
steep sides of the hills through which the army had 
to struggle, shooting down the fugitives as they 
passed. Amongst the soldiers were English ladies, 
some with children to care for. When they reached 



SECOND PERIOD. 419 

the end of a narrow pass through which they had to 
go, scarcely a thousand men were left out of four 
thousand who had started from Cabul. To save the 
women and children they were delivered up to Akbar 
Khan, who promised to treat them kindly. He kept 
his word, and no harm happened to them. The men 
had to march on to death. They reached another 
narrow pass. The cruel Afghans were already on the 
rocks on either side, and shot them down without 
mercy. Very few lived to reach the other end. 
Those few pushed on, hoping to reach Jellalabad, 
w^here there was a British garrison. When they 
were still sixteen miles from Jellalabad only six were 
alive. The pony on which one of these, Dr. Brydon, 
rode was so worn out, and he himself was so utterly 
fatigued, that he lagged behind. The other five 
pushed on and were slain by the Afghans. Believ- 
ing that the last Englishman had been killed, these 
Afghans went off to tell the tale. Weary and un- 
noticed Dr. Brydon came on slowly. At last he 
reached Jellalabad. He was the one man who 
arrived to tell the tale of the great disaster. 

5. Pollock's March to Cabul. — Jellalabad held out 
against all the Afghan forces that could be brought 
against it. A fresh army under General Pollock 
came to its succour. Then Pollock advanced to 
Cabul. The prisoners were recovered. The place in 
which Macnaghten had been murdered was destro3^ed. 
Then Pollock returned. Dost Mahomed was sent back 
and allowed to reign without further interference. 

6. The Anti-Corn-Law League. — At home some- 
thing was done to lighten the toil of those who were 

E E 2 



420 OUTLINE OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

least able to bear it. A law was made forbidding 
the employment of women and girls in mines and 
collieries. By another law, it was forbidden to make 
children work in factories more than six and a half 
hours a day. Yet the great evil remained unre- 
dressed. Bread was dear, because a duty had to be 
paid on corn brought in from foreign countries. There 
were a few men in Lancashire who resolved to devote 
themselves .to the work of procuring the abolition of 
the Corn Law in order that the food of the people 
might be brought in free of duty. First of these 
was Richard Cobden, a Sussex m^an, who had estab- 
lished himself in Manchester. He and his friends, 
of whom the principal was John Bright, established 
thj Anti-Corn-Law League. It was a society formed 
for the purpose of lecturing and printing pampLbts 
with the object of instructing the public on the evils 
which arose from the Corn Law. The League w^as 
soon busily employed, but it had many difficulties 
before it. Many of the working class were sus- 
picious of it, because it originated with master 
manufacturers, and they thought that the demand 
for the repeal of the Corn Laws was a trick to make 
them forget the People's Charter. Naturally many 
of the landowners were against them, because they 
thought that they w^ould be ruined if foreign corn was 
allowed to come in freely, and because they believed 
that if they were ruined all England would suffer, and 
in this they had the farmers on their side. Yet there 
were not a few amongst the landlords who were ready 
to take their chance of being ruined, as soon as they 
were convinced that the whole nation, and especially 



SECOND PERIOD. 421 

the poor, would suffer by the maintenance of the Corn 
Law. Nevertheless the League persevered. It had a 
good cause, and it set forth its cause with plain and 
convincing arguments. It converted many persons, 
and it half converted Peel. What converted him 
entirely was the Irish famine. 

7. The Irish. Famine. — In Ireland the greater 
part of the population lived upon potatoes. The 
potato disease, unknow^n before, appeared, and made 
the greater part of the crop unfit for food The 
mass of the Irish people found starvation before 
them. The Government tried to do what it could to 
provide work and pay for the hungry millions. 
Bountiful subscriptions were collected and sent over. 
But all that could be done w^as not enough. Masses 
of Irishmen emigrated to America. In the face of 
such suffering Peel felt that food could no longer be 
kept artificially dear. He proposed to the other 
ministers that food should now be allowed to come 
in without paying duty. The ministers would not 
aofree to this. Lord John Eussell wrote a letter on 
behalf of the opponents of the Grovernment, declaring 
that the Corn Laws must be abolished. On this, Peel 
urged his fellow ministers, not merely to let corn 
come freely into Ireland for a time, but to ask 
Parliament to abolish the Corn Laws altogether. 
When Parliament met, Peel proposed their abolition. 
Most of his own followers were desperately angry. 
A new party known as that of the Protectionists was 
formed. They treated Peel as a deserter who had 
come into office to uphold the Corn Laws, and who 
remained in office to abolish them. The Protectionists 



422 OUTLINE OF ENGLISH HISTOEY, 

however could not get a majority in the House. A 
certain number of Peel's followers were convinced by 
his arguments, and he had the support of the Liberals 
who had hitherto been his opponents. The Corn Laws 
were abolished, and free trade in corn was introduced. 
The food of the people was no longer to be taxed. 

8. The End of Pe&l's Ministry. — Peel's mmistry 
did not last much longer. The iirst time that the 
Liberals differed from him, the Protectionists joined 
them against him, and Peel was left in a minority. 
He resigned office. He had done a good deed, but 
he was generous enough to remember that, if his 
had been the hand to accomplish the work, the 
thought of doing it had come from another, and in 
the last speech which he made as Prime Minister 
he reminded the House of Commons that his suc- 
cess was due to Eichard Cobden. 



CHAPTEE XLVIL 



FEOM THE BEGINNING OF LOED JOHN 
RUSSELL'S MINISTRY TO THE END OF 
THE CRIMEAN WAR. 

(1846-1856.) 

1. The European Revolutions. — The new Prime 

Minister w^as Lord John Eussell. He had not been 
long in office when troubles burst out over nearly the 
whole of the European continent. The year 1848 



SECOND PERIOD. 423 

was one of general alarm. There was a revolution 
in France. King Louis Philippe was forced to fly, 
and a Republic was set up. In Italy the kings and 
princes were forced to allow Parliaments to meet, 
and to make war on Austria, which ruled over a great 
part of Northern Italy. In Austria itself and in 
Prussia Parliaments were set up after insurrections. 
2. The Chartists in London. — In England the 
Chartists thought that now was the time to gain 
what they had so long demanded in vain. Their 
leader was Feargus O'Connor, a member of Parlia- 
ment. He and the leading Chartists determined to 
gather in enormous numbers on Kennington Common, 
where Kennington Park now is, and to carry with them 
a petition to Parliament on behalf of the Charter. 
They thought that Parliament would not venture to 
refuse to grant a request made by so large a number 
of men. They forgot two things : first, that it was 
against the law to go in procession to Parliament in 
such numbers ; and, secondly, that the great bulk of 
the English people was thoroughly resolved that Par- 
liament should not be bullied into changing the laws. 
The Grovernment declared the plan of the Chartists 
to be illegal, and invited any one who would, to come 
forward as a special constable, that is to say, to act 
as a policeman for the day. Thousands of men did 
as they were asked, and the Chartists discovered 
that the numbers of those who were against them 
were far greater than the numbers of those who were 
on their side. There were about '200,000 special 
constables. Besides, the Duke of Wellington had 
soldiers ready to act in case of necessity. At Kenning- 



424 OUTLINE OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

ton there were not more than 25,000 people, and manji 
of these only came to see what was going on, without 
caring the least about the Charter. The procession 
of Chartists never tried to cross Westminster Bridge. 
The great petition was put into a cab and carried to 
the House of Commons. Feargus O'Connor told 
the House that it was signed by 5,700,000 persons. 
The House took the trouble to have the signatures 
counted, and found that there were less than 
2,000,000. On examining the signatures further, it 
appeared that whole pages were full of signatures 
written in one hand, and that many who had signed 
it had written, instead of their own names, those ol 
Prince Albert, the Duke of Wellington, and other 
celebrated persons. Others had written down ridicu- 
.lous names, such as Pugnose, Wooden-legs, and Bread- 
and-Cheese. It was evident that all these did not 
care much about the Charter. Yet it must not be 
forgotten that there were a great many people who 
did care about it, and that the working men had 
gained by their peaceable and orderly conduct a fair 
right to ask that they should have some part in 
electing members of Parliament, and that their 
opinions about the government of the country might 
be heard. 

3. The Death of Peel and the Great Exhibition. 
Russell's Government. — The time for giving votes to 
the Workiug men was not yet come. The minds of 
Englishmen were taken up at home with seeing that 
the Protectionists did not get power to bring back 
the corn laws. People were better off than they had 
been before^ and as one of Peel's followers said, 



SECOND PERIOD. 425 

* they knew the reason why.' But they did not feel 
very enthusiastic in favour of the (jrovernmeDt, and 
it is probable that if Sir Eobert Peel had lived he 
would before long have been back in office. Un- 
happily one day he fell from his horse in the Park, 
and was so injured that he died shortly afterwards. 
The year after Peel's death Englishmen could think 
of nothing but the Great Exhibition in Hyde Park, 
where the produce of the world was to be seen in 
the enormous glass house which was afterwards en- 
larged and removed to Penge Hill. It was a usefu.. 
undertaking, which had been first thought of by 
Prince Albert, and it served its purpose in teaching 
English manufacturers that they might improve 
their own work by studying the work of foreigner?* 
Many people thought it would do more good than 
that. They fancied that because crowds of foreigners 
came to see London and the Exhibition, there would 
be no more wars. These people were soon to be 
disappointed. Two or three years before, the kings 
and princes of Europe had put down the people who 
had risen against them, and had in most places 
abolished the Parliaments that had been set up. 
Shortly after the Exhibition was closed, Louis Napo- 
leon, the nephew of the former Emperor, who had 
been elected President of the French Eepublic, put 
down the Eepublic, and marched soldiers into the 
streets of Paris to shoot any men who resisted him. 
He then asked the French people to name him Presi> 
dent for ten years. They did so, and not long 
afterwards they named him Emperor. He arranged 
that they should elect a Parliament, but he took 



426 OUTLINE OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

care that the newspapers should not print anything 
that he did not like, and that the ignorant people 
should be told freely what a great and wise man he 
was. In this way he managed to do pretty much 
as he pleased for some years. 

4. The Derby Ministry. — Not long after the close 
of the Great Exhibition Lord John Kussell's ministry 
resigned, and the Protectionists came into office. 
Their leader was the Earl of Derby, and their chief 
man in the House of Commons was Mr. Disraeli. 
They dissolved Parliament, but the majority of the 
new Parliament was against them. They gave up 
Protection, and declared that they would accept Free 
Trade. It was of no use ; the majority would not 
support them, and they had to resign. 

5. The Coalition Ministry and the Eastern Diffi- 
culty. — They were succeeded by a ministry known 
as the Coalition Ministry, because it was formed of 
two sets of men, the Liberals and the followers of Sir 
Kobert Peel. The Prime Minister was the Earl 
of Aberdeen. They had not been long in office 
when fresh troubles arose in the East. The Emperor 
of Eussia, Nicholas, was of the same religion as 
most of the Christian subjects of Turkey. He and 
all his subjects would have been glad to set them 
free from the rule of the Sultan. He was also a man 
with a very strong will, who governed his own sub- 
jects very harshly, and who wanted to make his power 
felt outside Eussia. He proposed to the English 
Ambassador at his Court that part of the Christian 
provinces of Turkey should be set free and placed 
under his protection, and he offered to let England 



SECOND PERIOD. 427 

take Egypt and Candia too if it liked to do so. Such 
a proposal was sure to shock the English Ministers. 
They did not wish to see Russia gaining any more 
power in Turkey than it had had before, and they 
did not think it honest to settle the question by an 
agreement which would have allowed them to rob 
Turkey in the south if they would shut their eyes 
whilst Eussia robbed it in the north. 

6. War between Russia and Turkey. — After a 
time Nicholas resolved to do alone what the 
English Grovernment would not help him to do. 
He required the Sultan to give him the right of 
protecting all the Christians of Turkey. If this had 
been granted, Nicholas would have been far more 
powerful than the Sultan. As soon as a dispute 
arose between the Sultan and his Christian subjects, 
a Eussian army would have marched in to take the 
part of the Christians. The Turks naturall}? refused 
to give way, and Eussia then sent troops to occupy 
the Danubian Principalities, which are now known 
as Eoumania. England and France, Austria and 
Prussia, joined in supporting Turkey, though they 
wished if possible to prevent war. Nicholas insisted 
on his demand, and the Turks insisted on refusing 
it. Turkey declared war against Eussia. The Turks 
defended themselves well on land, but their fleet in 
the Black Sea was destroyed by the Eussians. Then 
the combined English and French fleets entered the 
Black Sea, to defend the Turks. From that moment 
it was certain that there would be war between 
Russia on the one side and England and France on 



SECOND PERIOD. 429 

the other. In the beginning of 1854 war was de- 
clared. Austria and Prussia remained neutral. 

7. The Invasion of the Crimea and the Battle of 
the Alma. — An English and French army was sent 
to Yarna, in Bulgaria. The Turks, however, de- 
fended themselves so well on the Danube that this 
army was not needed there, and before long the 
Eussian troops left Eoumania. In the English 
Ministry there was one man who was not content 
with this success. Lord Palmerston urged his col- 
leagues to put an end to the power of Eussia in the 
Black Sea. He was supported by the Emperor of 
the French. It was therefore determined to attack 
the great fortress of Sebastopol, in the Crimea, where 
the Eussian navy was safe under strong batteries of 
guns. Orders were given to Lord Eaglan, the 
English general, and to Marshal St. Arnaud, the 
French general, to invade the Crimea, taking with 
them a small Turkish force. They landed to the 
north of Sebastopol, with 64,000 men in all. As 
they marched southwards, they found the Eussian 
army drawn up along the top of a hill beyond the 
river Alma. They crossed the stream and marched 
up the hill. There w^as not much skill shown by the 
generals on either side, but in tho end the Eussians 
were driven off, and the victory was won. 

8. The Beginning of the Siege of Sebastopol. — 
Some people have thought that if the conquerors 
had pushed hurriedly on, Sebastopol would have 
been taken. Instead of that they waited, and, 
marching round the head of the harbour, they at- 
tacked Sebastopol on the souther/ «ide. Even then 



430 OUTLINE OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

some have thought that the allied armies might 
have forced their way in with a rush. But they did 
not try it, and prepared for a regular siege. Sebas- 
topol was not to be taken in that way so easily. 
There was inside it a vast store of guns, and of 
everything needed for defence. What was more 
than this, there was a man of genius. General 
Todtleben, inside it. He set to work and fortified 
the place. The guns of the allies were not enough 
to beat down the fortifications. 

9. The Balaclava Charge and the Battle of Inker- 
mann. — Then came the fight at Balaclava. The 
Eussians attacked, and were driven back. An order 
was sent to Lord Cardigan, who commanded the light 
cavalry, to retake some guns which had been captured 
by the Eussians. He misunderstood it, and thought 
that he w^as directed to charge into the midst of the 
whole Eussian army. The poet Tennyson has told 
the story how, when Cardigan gave the order, the 
brave men rushed to their death, knowing that all 
they could do would be in vain. They would not set 
an example of disobedience. Very few escaped. As 
a French general who was looking on said, 'It 
is magnificent, but it is not war.' Thousands more 
were to perish because the generals did not know 
how to lead their men, and the Ministers at home 
did not know how to provide for them. At Inker- 
mann there was a great battle. The few English 
troops were surprised in the early morning by the 
thick columns of the Eussian army. They held 
out for some hours, till the French came to their 



SECOND PERIOD. 431 

help. The Eussians were didven back, and the 
allied armies were saved from destruction. 

10. Winter in the Crimea. — The battle of Inker- 
mann had been fought in the beginning of November. 
It has often been called a soldiers' battle. The 
English private soldiers and the officers of the English 
regiments were more intelligent, and more ready to 
act on their own responsibility, than the Eussians 
were. But there was no skill in the general who 
commanded the army. He had foreseen nothing, 
and he provided for nothing. Neither he nor the 
Ministers at home had provided for the winter. 
They had hoped to be inside Sebastopol before that 
came, and instead of that they were still outside, 
on the bleak hill-side. It was not all the fault of 
the general or the Ministers. It had been long 
since England had engaged in a great war, and all 
the lessons of the last one had been forgotten. 
Wellington's skill and the bravery of his troops 
were remembered, but not his patient labour in 
providing all things necessary for the subsistence of 
the troops. The Ministers had indeed sent many 
things, but they had not sent enough. A storm 
swept over the Black Sea, and wrecked vessels laden 
with comforts for the soldiers. The storm brought 
bitter cold to the men on shore. They had but 
tents to protect them against frost and snow, and 
the tents were often blown down, leaving them with- 
out shelter. The men fell ill by hundreds, and 
medicine and medical comforts were sent out from 
England. But there were constant blunders. The 
sick and wounded were sent to one place, the 



432 OUTLINE OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

medicine was sent to another. Men at home who 
had to provide the proper things were so eager and 
excited to do what was right that they usually 
ended by doing what was wrong. Once a large 
amount of coffee was sent out to keep the soldiers 
warm. Those who sent it forgot to have it roasted, 
and they did not send out any machines for roast- 
ing it in the Crimea. Another time a large quantity 
of boots was despatched. Unfortunately they were 
all made to fit the left foot. 

11, The Hospital at Scutari. — With great diffi- 
culty the sick were sent away to a hospital at Scutari, 
near Constantinople. When they arrived there there 
were doctors to cure them, but no nurses to attend 
to them. There had been no nurses in the Penin- 
sular War. Sidney Herbert, the Minister who had 
the charge of the war, saw that the best doctors 
could do but little without the help of women, and 
he asked Miss Florence Nightingale, who had taught 
herself how the sick should be nursed, to go out 
with other ladies who would volunteer to help the 
poor men at Scutari. She at once agreed to go. 
With her help the hospital was brought into order. 
Many a sick man's life was spared, and many a dying 
man went peacefully to his rest through the gentle 
help thus offeied. What she did was a token for 
good in every way. One of the best things that are 
happening in this time in which we live is the dis- 
covery of the many ways in which women can help 
men in the work of life. In Queen Elizabeth's 
time the great poet Shakspere told about the lives 
of many good and beautiful wompn. Even ^hak§- 



SECOND PEEIOD. 433 

pere himself could never have imagined Florence 
Nightingale. Good women in his days were gentle 
and kind to their husbands and brothers. Now they 
can go out into the world and be gentle and kind to 
the poor, the sick, and the afflicted. 

12. The Palmerston Ministry. — At home English- 
men looked on at all the misery and confusion in the 
Crimea with growing anger. They thought that 
somebody must be to blame, and they could not 
clearly make out who the somebody was. As soon 
as Parliament met, the Grovernment was attacked, 
and forced to resign. From every side there were 
calls upon Lord Palmerston to be Prime Minister. 
It was known that his whole heart was in the war, 
and that he was a man of strong common sense and 
of resolute character. The arrangements for the 
army were gradually brought into order. Perhaps 
things would have improved even if Palmerston 
had not been there to direct them. Officials were 
beginning from many failures to learn their duties. 
The winter too was passing away, and their work was 
easier than it had been. But it was something to 
have a man at. the head of the Grovernment who 
knew both how to work himself and to make others 
do the same. 

13. The Fall of Sebastopol and the End of the 
War. — During the summer which followed, the siege 
of Sebastopol was pushed on. The English army 
was in good condition. Officers and men were 
learning their work. But the French army was 
more numerous than ours. It occupied the best 
positions, from which the town was most easily 

F F 



434 OUTLINE OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

attacked. One assault was made, from which both 
French and English were driven back. Then came 
another. The English attack failed, the French 
was successful. Sebastopol was taken. Through 
the next winter the English army increased in 
numbers and improved in discipline. But there 
was no more fighting. The Emperor Nicholas had 
died in the hard winter which did so much harm to 
the English and French armies. Now that Sebas- 
topol had been taken, his successor, Alexander II., 
was ready to make peace. In the spring of 1856 
peace was made. The fortifications of Sebastopol 
were destroyed, and Eussia obliged to promise not 
to have a fleet in the Black Sea. The chief object 
of the war had been to show Eussia that she must 
not settle the affairs of the lands governed by the 
Sultan in her own way, and this had been gained. 
There was, however, a belief in England that the 
Turkish Government would improve, and govern 
those countries better. This was, however, a mis- 
take. The Sultan and his Ministers did not im- 
prove, or learn how to govern, and after a few years 
there were fresh troubles in Turkey. 



SECOND PERIOD. 435 

CHAPTER XLVIII. 
THE INDIAN MUTINY. 

(l857, 1858.) 

1. Troubles in India. — In the year after the 
Crimean War was ended the attention of men was 
fixed on a country still farther to the East than 
Turkey. In 1857 exactly a hundred years had 
passed since Clive had won the battle of Plassey. 
The religion of the Hindoos, who form a great part 
of the natives of India, teaches many things which 
se.em very strange to Englishmen. Among other 
things they are taught that they will be defiled if 
they eat any part of a cow. By this defilement they 
will meet with much contempt from their fellows, 
and will suffer much after their death in another 
world. The bulk of the army in India was composed 
of Hindoos, and it happened that an improved rifie 
had lately been invented for the use of the soldiers, 
and that the cartridges used in this rifle required to 
be greased, in order that they might be rammed down 
easily into the barrel. The men believed that the 
grease used was made of the fat of cows, though this 
was not really the case. There was, therefore, much 
suspicion and angry feeling among the native 
soldiers, and when ignorant men are suspicious and 
angry they are apt to break out into deeds of un- 
reasoning fury. The danger was the greater be- 
cause a great many of the native princes were also 

F F 2 



436 OUTLINE OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

discontented. These princes governed states scat- 
tered about over India, though they were not 
allowed to make war with one another. Many of 
them had governed very badly, had ruined their 
subjects by hard taxation, and had spent the money 
they thus obtained in vicious and riotous living. 
The English G-overnment in India had interfered 
with some of these, and had dethroned them, an- 
nexing their territories to its own, and ruling the 
people who had been their subjects by means of its 
own officers. The consequence was that some of the 
princes who had been left in possession of authority 
thought that their turn would come next, and that 
they too would be dethroned before long. These 
men were therefore ready to help against the 
English, if they thought that they had a chance of 
succeeding. 

2. The Outbreak of the Mutiny. — The place at 
which the soldiers broke out into open mutiny was 
Meerut. They fired at their English officers, killed 
some of them, and massacred such Englishmen as 
they could meet with. Then they made off for 
Delhi. At Delhi lived an old man whose ancestors 
had been the chiefs of the Mohammedans who had 
once conquered India, and who had successively 
ruled India under the title of the Great Mogul. 
Their descendant was without power and authority, 
but he was allowed to live in state, in a magnificent: 
palace, and had a large allowance of money, to sup- 
port him in every luxury. The mutineers placed 
him at their head, and called him the Emperor of 
India. Happily the Grovernor-Greneral of India was 



SECOIs^D PERIOD. 437 

Lord Canning, George Canning's son. He knew 
how to oppose the mutineers, and he sent for a large 
body of English troops which happened to be on 
its way to China. Till they came he must look to 
India itself for help. In the north-west of India lay 
the Punjab, a province recently conquered, and the 
best English troops were there. The Punjab was 
governed by Sir John Lawrence, one of the best and 
wisest of the English statesmen in India. He at once 
disarmed the Sepoys in the Punjab. Then he sent 
forth an army to besiege Delhi. That army was not 
composed of British troops only. The Sikhs, or 
natives of the Punjab, were a fierce, warlike race. 
Not many years before they had fought hard for in- 
dependence. Now they were reconciled to British 
rule through the wise government of Lawrence and 
those who served under him. They despised the 
natives of the plains on the banks of the Granges, 
and they were eager to serve against the mutineers. 
They formed a great part of the army which Lawrence 
despatched to the siege of Delhi. But though the 
Sikhs and the English alike fought well, Delhi was a 
large city, and it was long before it could be taken. 
3. Cawnpore. — The mutiny spread to Lucknow. 
Lucknow was the capital of Oudh, which had lately 
been annexed to the British dominions. The few 
Englishmen who were in the town were driven into 
an inclosed house and grounds known as the 
Residency, with their wives and children. There 
they held out against the raging multitude outside 
till help might come. Worse things than this 
happened at Cawnpore. There were there about a 



438 OUTLINE OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

thousand British men, women, and children. The 
old commander, Sir Hugh Wheeler, thought that he 
might trust a native named Nana Sahib, who lived 
near, as Nana Sahib had been particularly friendly 
to him. He did not know that Nana Sahib hated,' 
the whole British race, because the English Grovern- 
ment had refused to acknowledge his right to an 
inheritance to which he laid claim. Wheeler re- 
tired into a hospital round which was a low mud 
wall. He had with him more than five hundred 
women and children and less than five hundred 
men Nana Sahib arrived, but he came not to help 
Wheeler, but to put himself at the head of the 
mutineers. The mutineers again and again made a 
rush at the low mud wall. Again and again they 
were beaten off, but swarms of them were firing 
all day, and many of the defenders fell under their 
bullets. The poor women and children had to crouch 
for shelter under the wall, with no roof over their 
heads to guard them from the scorching rnys of the 
Indian sun. There was but one well from which 
water could be drawn, and those who went to draw 
water there did it at the peril of their lives. The 
mutineers took care to direct their bullets upon it, 
and many a man dropped slain or wounded as he 
strove to fetch a little water to cool the parched 
mouths of wife or child. At last Nana Sahib, find- 
ing that he could not get in by force, offered to let 
the garrison go safely away if the hospital were sur- 
rendered. The offer was accepted, and all who still 
lived were taken down to the river and placed on 
board large boats, to float down the stream. The 



SECOND PERIOD. 439 

treacherous mutineers never meant that they should 
escape with their lives. They gathered on the bank, 
and shot them down. Some of the women and 
children who were still alive were carried to a bouse, 
where for some days they were kept alive. The 
murderers were sent in, and they were all massacredo 
Their bodies were thrown into the well from which 
their brothers and husbands had sought for water 
in the days of the siege. Of the whole number 
which had been with Wheeler at the beginning, only 
four men escaped to tell the miserable tale. 

4. Clemency Canning. — It was no wonder that 
such news as this put all Englishmen in India into 
a fury of wrath. The tale was bad enough in itself, 
but even more horrible things were told and believed 
than any which really happened. The talk was every- 
where of revenge. Even here in England, men 
whose lives were spent in deeds of kindness could 
not refrain their tongues from uttering words of 
cruelty, not merely calling out for the death and 
destruction of the actual murderers, but of the popu- 
lations of whole cities, in which, as in Nineveh of 
old, there were many thousand persons so young and 
innocent that they knew not their right hand from 
their left. Xo wonder that men in India were even 
fiercer still. One man remained cool amidst the 
wild outcry. Lord Canning, Clemency Canning as 
he was called in derision by those who were asking 
for blood, resolved that there should be punishment, 
but nothing more, and that as far as it was possible 
to make a distinction the innocent should not suffer 
with the guilty. He bore the scorn of thousands. 



440 OUTLINE OF ENGLISH HISTOKY. 

Let his name be held in honour. It requires truei 
bravery to stand alone in resisting a multitude eager 
to do evil, than it did to stand ready for death be- 
hind the mud wall of Cawnpore. 

5. The Recovery of Delhi and the Relief of Luck- 
now. — Before long things began to look better. In 
the south of ludia there had been no mutinies. At 
last Delhi was taken, and reinforcements began to 
arrive. The Englishmen cooped up in Luc know 
were in desperate straits. Sir John Lawrence's 
brother, the good and brave Sir Henry Lawrence, 
was slain. Unless help could reach them, they would 
be obliged to surrender from want of food. There 
would be another massacre like that at Cawnpore. 
As it was, the shot poured in amongst them, killing 
even the wounded in the hospitals. Mines exploded 
beneath the feet of the defenders, and the enemy 
rushed in like a tide. With a desperate effort the 
enemy was driven out. So it went on, day after 
day and week after week. Sickness and death were 
busy among the little band as well as the enemy's 
shot. Help was coming, though they knew it not. 
Havelock, a brave pious soldier, who prayed, and 
taught his men to pray, as the Puritan soldiers did 
in the days of Cromwell, was hastening to Lucknow 
with a small band, but one large enough for the pur- 
pose. He had fought his way steadily on, when 
another soldier. Sir James Outram, arrived. Outram 
was Havelock's superior officer, and might have 
taken the command from him, but he was too 
honourable a soldier for that. ' To you,' he wrote 
to Havelock, ' shall be left the glory of relieving 



SECOND PERIOD. -441 

Lucknow, for which you have already struggled so 
m\ich. I shall accompany you, placing my military 
service at your disposal, should you please, and 
serving under you as a volunteer.' This happy 
band of brothers fought on to accomplish their 
mission of mercy. In Lucknow it was known that^ 
they were on the way, but it was hard to believe- 
that they would come in time. At last the good 
news was told. Some one had heard the bagpipes 
of the Highlanders sounding the pibroch — the music 
of their own country— beyond the ranks of the foe. 
Havelock and Outram were there indeed, and the 
sorely tried garrison was saved. 

6. Sir Colin Campbell in India. — Havelock had 
succoured the garrison of Lucknow, but he had not 
men enough to beat off the enemy, and he soon 
afterwards fell ill and died. Before that. Sir Colin 
Campbell, an old Scotch general, had been appointed 
Commander-in-Chief in India. Campbell had more 
men at his disposal than Havelock had had. Bit by 
bit Northern India was reconquered. There were 
terrible punishments, and peace was at last restored. 
The task of governing India was even more difficult 
than it had been before. Future genej-ations will 
be able to say how that task has been accomplishedt 



442 ' OUTLINE OF ENGLISH HISTOEY. 



CHAPTEE XLIX. 

FROM THE END OF THE INDIAN MTJTINl 
TO THE PASSING OF THE SECOND 
REFORM BILL. 

(1858-1867.) 

1. The Reform Bills which did not Pass. — Before 
the Indian Mutiny was suppressed Lord Palmerston's 
ministry had come to an end. There was an attempt 
in Paris to murder the Emperor Napoleon, and a 
foreigner living in England was supposed to have 
had something to do with the plot. Whether he 
had or not, he was acquitted by an English jury. 
On this the French grew very angry with England, 
and called on us to alter our laws. No nation likes 
to be told what it ought to do, and Lord Palmerston 
was charged with having been too civil to the French 
Government. He was beaten in the House of 
Commons, and he resigned. A Conservative Govern- 
ment took office, with Lord Derby at its head and 
Mr. Disraeli as its leader in the House of Commons. 
This Ministry did not last long. For some years 
' there had been a growing feeling amongst many of 
the statesmen on the Liberal side that there ought 
to be a new Eeform Bill, which would allow the 
working men to vote, and several attempts had been 
made to get such a Bill passed. But most people 
in the House of Commons did not care about a 
Reform Bill, and people outside the House did not 
care much about it either. Their minds were too 



SECOND PERIOD. 443 

much taken up with other matters. They had had 
the European revolutions to think of. Then had 
come the establishment of the Empire in France, 
and after that the Crimean War and the Indian 
Mutiny. Now that all these things were over, the 
Conservatives thought that they would bring in a 
Keform Bill too, but they did not succeed any better 
than the other party. The Liberals said that it was a 
bad Eeform Bill, and beat them in the House of Com- 
mons. Then there was a new Parliament, and the 
new House of Commons declared against them. 
Lord Palmerston became Prime Minister a second 
time. He did not himself care for a Eeform Bill, 
but, as some of his colleagues did, he let them bring 
one in. The new House of Commons did not care 
much more about it than the old one had done, and 
so the Eeform Bill came to nothing, and as long as 
Lord Palmerston lived no new one was brought in. 

2. The French War in Italy. — Perhaps there was 
very little thought about the Eeform Bill because 
every one was eagerly watching the things that were 
taking place in Italy. That country was cut up into 
little states, and most of the dukes and kings who 
ruled in those states ruled against the wishes of 
their subjects. The north-east of Italy, from Milan 
to Venice, was governed by the Austrians, and 
Austrian armies were ready to march to support any 
of the kings or dukes against their own subjects. 
No wonder that Italians began to think that they 
would rather form one nation, and be able to manage 
their own affairs, without being meddled with by the 
Austrians. Brave men had long been forming 



444 OUTLINE OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

schemes to set Italy free, but the Austrians were 
too strong for them, and for years nothing was done. 
In the year 1848, the year of the European revolu- 
tions, Charles Albert, the King of Sardinia, who ruled 
over the north-west of Italy, declared himself ready 
to fight for Italian independence. He attacked the 
Austrians, but the Austrians were too strong for 
him, and he was beaten, and forced to resign his 
throne. His son Victor Emmanuel, who succeeded 
him, longed for the day when he might carry out his 
father's design. At last in 1859, two years after the 
breaking out of the Indian mutiny, he was able to 
do what he wished. Napoleon offered to help him. 
A French army, with the Emperor at its head, came 
into Italy, and defeated the Austrians in the two great 
bittles of Magenta and Solferino. The Italians 
hoped that the Austrians would at last be driven 
out of Italy. It was perhaps as well for them that 
they had to wait a little longer. 'No one trusted 
Napoleon. He thought it a very fine and noble 
thing to help the Italians, but he wanted to get 
some advantage for himself. The Prussians threat- 
ened to join the Austrians, and the French made 
peace. The country about Milan was given to 
Victor Emmanuel. Venetia, as the country about 
Venice was called, was left to the Austrians. 

3. The King^dom of Italy. — It was difficult to say 
what was to be done with the rest of Italy. The 
Emperor's plan was that the dukes should remain 
where they were, and live in a friendly way with 
Victor Emmanuel. But the dukes had run away, 
and their people did not want to have them back, 



SECOND PERIOD. 4^-5 

The people asked that Victor Emmanuel should be 
their king, and so the central part of Italy was 
joined to the north-west. Savoy and Nice had to 
be given to France. A year or two later the new 
kingdom had a further increase. Garibaldi landed 
in Sicily with a thousand men, to attack the kingdom 
of Naples. The King of Naples did not know how 
to make himself popular amongst his subjects, and 
his kingdom fell like a house of cards. Victor Em- 
manuel now ruled in Naples as well as in Turin. 
The next question was whether the dominions of 
the Pope were to become part of the new kingdom. 
Many Catholics from other nations, especially 
Frenchmen and Irishmen, came to fight for the Pope. 
An ItaHan army attacked them and defeated them. 
Eome itself and the country round Eome was only 
saved to the Pope by the French Emperor, who in- 
sisted on keeping a French garrison at Eome. 
Victor Emmanuel ruled over all Italy except over 
Eome and Venetia. 

4. The Volunteers. — The English Grovernment 
had been very friendly to Italy all through these 
changes. Most Englishmen were glad to hear that 
there was another independent nation in Europe, 
and they were glad that, at all events, the French 
had not gained any part of Italy for themselves. In 
England there was a great suspicion of the French 
Emperor. He had all sorts of schemes in his head, 
and no one could tell what he was likely to do next. 
Lord Palmerston thought the best thing to be done 
was to prepare for the worst. Already, before Lord 
Palmerston came into office, young m,en engaged in 



446 OUTLINE OF ENGLISH HISTOEY. 

all kinds of employments had offered to form volun* 
teer regiments, to be ready to resist invasion if it 
came. Every encouragement was given ' to them, 
and the Eifle Volunteers were established as a per- 
manent part of the British army. 

6. The Commercial Treaty with France. — In 
Palmerston's ministry the Chancellor of the Ex- 
chequer, that is to say, the minister who had to 
make all arrangements about taxation, was Mr. 
Grladstone. Year after year he tried to carry out 
the work which Peel had left uncompleted, of im- 
proving the system of taxation by removing burden- 
some duties. He did not like to see the growing 
risk of a quarrel between England and France, and 
he gladly forwarded a plan for inducing the Emperor 
of the French to agree to a commercial treaty, by 
which English goods should be admitted into France 
upon payment of no more than a low duty, and French 
wines and other articles should be admitted in the 
same way into England. The treaty was arranged by 
Cobden, who went to Paris to talk it over with the 
Emperor. He and Mr. Gladstone hoped that if the 
two nations traded with one another more, they 
would be less inclined to quarrel. 

6. The Civil War in America. — Whilst the treaty 
with France was being made, events beyond the 
Atlantic drew the attention of every one in Europe. 
The United States of America were divided into two 
parts. In those of the South some millions of black 
slaves worked for their masters, mostly in producing 
sugar and cotton. In the North there were no 
slaves. There was a vast amount of rich, wild land 



SECOND PERIOD. 447 

open to emigrants from both sections, and sometimes 
slaveowners tliought tliey would be better off if they 
could go to fresh soil further west, and carry their 
slaves with them. The free states were willing that 
they should keep their slaves where they were 
already, but not that they should take them any- 
where outside the slave states which already ex- 
isted. In 1860 there was an election of a new 
President, the officer who stands at the head of 
the American Republic for four years. This time 
Abraham Lincoln was elected, a man who was de- 
termined not to allow the fresh land outside the 
slave states to be cultivated by slaves. The Southern 
States declared themselves independent, and formed 
a government of their own under the name of the 
Confederate States. The Northern States kept the 
old name of the United States, and resolved that the 
Confederates should not be allowed to separate. A 
terrible war followed, which lasted for four years. 

7. The Blockade Runners and the Privateers. — 
English feeling took different sides. The upper 
classes and the merchants were mainly on the side 
of the South. The Northern navy was strong, and 
blockaded the ports of the South, to prevent any 
goods being carried in. Many merchants in 
England fitted out quick steamers as blockade 
runners, to carry arms and powder and shot and 
other stores to the Confederates. In time the Con- 
federates thought that it would be an excellent thing 
if they could buy from their English friends armed 
ships, and have them sent out from English ports. 
The English merchants did as they were asked, took 



448 OUTLINE OF ENGLISH HISTOKY. 

the money, and sent out these ships to plunder and 
to burn the merchant vessels of the United States. 
One of the most famous of these was the Alabama, 
It did an enormous amount of damage, for which 
England had afterwards to pay, as the English 
Grovernment had not stopped the vessel's sailing, as 
it ought to have done. 

8. The Cotton Famine. — To one part of England 
the American War brought terrible suffering. 
Masses of men in many of the large towns in the 
north depended for their daily bread upon making 
cotton goods. The cotton used in this manufacture 
came at that time almost entirely from the Southern 
States. There was no possibility of bringing it from 
those states, as the blockading ships of the North 
would have stopped it on the way. All that could 
be done was done to get together supplies of cotton 
from Egypt and India and other parts of the world. 
That which came from these sources was not nearly 
so good as the American cotton had been, and even 
of the bad cotton there was not enough. The cotton 
famine, as it was called, stopped the mills, or caused 
them to work at short time. Thousands of persons 
ready to work to earn their livelihood were thrown 
out of work through no fault of their own. In many 
a house there was want and hunger. That want and 
hunger were nobly borne. Not only were the suf- 
ferers patient under their misfortune, but they were 
not to be tempted to speak evil of the Northern 
States, whose blockade was the cause of their misery. 
They believed that the slaveowners of the South 
were in the wrong, and that if the war went on long 



SECOND PERIOD. 449 

enough the men of the North would win, and that 
when they won they would set free the slaves. The 
working men of the north were right. After four 
years of hard-fought war, the North won the victory, 
and the slaves were set free. The English working 
man had done something for himself without think- 
ing of himself at all. He had shown that he was 
capable of standing up for that which he believed to 
be a righteous cause, however much he might suffer 
through it. It was impossible to deny to such 
men as these the rights of citizens. They were 
surely worthy of having votes to send members to 
Parliament to make the laws, after showing that, 
under the most trying circumstances, they knew 
how to obey the laws. A Parliamentary Eeform 
which should reach them could not now be long in 
coming. 

9. The Last Days of Lord Palmer ston.— It was 
well known that Lord Palmerston would not hear of 
Parliamentary Eeform. Mr. Gladstone, however, 
declared in its favour, and Mr. Gladstone was likely 
to have great influence soon. In 1865 a new Par- 
liament was elected. Before it met Lord Palmerston 
died. He was eighty years of age, and kept brisk 
and active to the last. He was the most popular 
man in England, always cheery, and ready to speak 
a friendly word to every one. But there was work 
now to be done which needed the hands of younger 
men. 

10. The Ministry of Earl Russell. — The successor 
of Lord Palmerston was not a young man. Earl 
Kussell, who had once been the Lord John Eussell 

G G 



450 OUTLINE OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

who had advocated Parliamentary Eeform not long 
after the Battle of Waterloo was fought, and who had 
had much to do with the first Eeform Bill, became 
Prime Minister, to advocate a second Eeform Bill, the 
object of which would be to give votes to the work- 
ing men, as the first Eeform Bill had given votes to 
the tradesmen. Mr. Gladstone was the chief person 
in the House of Commons. A Eeform Bill was 
proposed, but the House of Commons did not care 
about it, and would not have it. The Ministers at 
once resigned office. They thought that it was so 
important to reform Parliament that they would not 
keep in office unless they could do this. Lord 
Palmerston had stayed in office after proposing a 
Eeform Bill, but they cared about reform, and Lord 
Palmerston did not. 

11. The Conservative Ministry and the Second 
Eeform Bill. — A Conservative Ministry came into 
office. The Prime Minister was Lord Derby, but 
the most important minister was Mr. Disraeli. All 
at once it appeared that though the greater number 
of the members of the House of Commons did not 
care about Eeform, the working men did. There 
were meetings held in different parts of the country 
in its favour. In London a large body of men made 
up their minds to hold a meeting in Hyde Park, to 
make speeches about Eeform. The Grovernment 
tried to shut them out. They broke down the rail- 
ings and held their meeting. The Grovernment 
found out that it had no right to shut them out, 
Mr. Disraeli saw that the working men were now in 
earnest, and that they were determined to have 



SECOND PERIOD 451 

reform. He determined to be the person to give it 
to them. When Parliament met he presented a 
Keform Bill, which did not satisfy anybody. When 
that would not do he presented another Reform Bill, 
which was accepted. When it became law everyone 
who had a house of his own in a town of any size had 
the right of voting, and almost everyone who lived 
in the country who had a house which was at least of 
a moderate size. The working men had got what 
they wanted. They would now be consulted on 
the making of the laws. 



CHAPTER L. 



FROM THE PASSING OF THE SECOND REFORM 
BILL TO THE END OF LORD BEACONS- 
FIELD'S MINISTRY. 

(1867-1880.) 

1. Irish Troubles. — The year in which the Re- 
form Bill was passed was one of trouble in Ireland. 
An association was formed, the members of which 
were known as Fenians, for the purpose of separat- 
ing Ireland from England. This association had 
many friends in America, where many Irish were 
living. An attempt was made to rise in insurrec- 
tion in Ireland itself. The insurrection was not 
likely to succeed, as the Irish had scarcely any arms, 
and no discipline. It happened that when the 

G G 2 



452 OUTLINE OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

Irish collected in the hills it began to snow, and 
they were unable to remain in the open country. 
The attempt was easily put down. At Manchester 
some Fenian prisoners were being carried in a prison 
van, when some Irishmen rushed at the van, to set 
ithem free. A shot was fired, and a policeman was 
killed. Some of the Irishmen were tried for murder, 
and hanged. 

2. The Irish Church and the Gladstone Ministry. 
— These things had a great effect on many of the 
Liberals, and especially on ]Mr. Gladstone. He 
thought that it was not enough to keep the Irish 
down by force, and that it would be right to find out 
whether the Irish had anything to complain of, in 
order that it might be remedied. The first thing 
which he proposed to do was to take away the in- 
come of the Protestant Church. The greater part of 
the Irish people was Catholic, and had to support 
their priests out of their own pockets, whilst the 
Protestant clergy were paid by money which the law 
required Irishmen to pay, whatever their religion 
might be, and were also treated with more honour 
by the Grovernment than the Catholic priests were, 
as if their Church had been the Church of the 
country. Mr. Gladstone proposed to put an end 
to this, and to allow both the Catholic and the Pro- 
testant clergy to be paid voluntarily by their own 
congregations. Mr. Disraeli, who was now Prime 
Minister, as Lord Derby had become too ill to attend 
to business, objected to this, but the House of 
Commons agreed with Mr. Gladstone. Parliament 
was dissolved, and the new Parliament was on 



SECOND PERIOD. 453 

Mr. Griadstone's side. He therefore became Prime 
Minister. 

3. The Irish Church Act and the Irish Land Act. 
• — The first thing that the new ministry did was to 
pass a law to take away the money from the Irish 
Protestant Church. The next thing that it did was 
to pass a law about Irish Land, and to try to do what 
was just between landlords and tenants. Some 
years afterwards there were great complaints in 
Ireland that enough had not been done. But, at 
all events, the law was an honest attempt to remedy 
what was wrong. 

4. The Education Act. — Many changes too were 
made in England. The greatest of these was the 
introduction of a new system of education. For 
many years the Government had been enabled by 
Parliament to do more and more for education. It 
had given large sums of money to certain Societies, 
which subscribed money to pay for schools on condi- 
tion that the children were properly educated. A 
law was now made to enable the people who lived in 
a district to set up a school to be paid for by them- 
selves. These schools, which are known as Board 
Schools, would teach a great many children who 
had not been taught by the Societies. Parents too, 
who neglected to send their children to school, were 
to be made to do so. 

5. The Ballot Act. — Another new thing was the 
introduction of voting by ballot at elections. Before 
this, every man who voted had to give his vote 
openly, and many persons were afraid to vote as 
they thought right for fear of offending either their 



454 OUTLINE OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

employers or the people amongst whom they livedi 
Now no one knows how they vote. It was thought at 
the time that the ballot would prevent voters from 
taking bribes. This, however, has not been the case, 
and we can only hope that men will some day be 
ashamed of taking money for their vote. Not much 
more than a hundred years ago noblemen and 
gentlemen took money or something that was worth 
money for their vote in Parliament, and perhaps a 
hundred years hence some writer will be able to 
speak of it as a wonderful thing that there had been 
a time when some people took money for their votes 
at elections. 

6. The Franco-German War. — Whilst these things 
were being done in England, great events were taking 
place on the Continent. In 1866 there had been a 
war between Prussia and Austria, in which Prussia 
was completely successfal. Italy had helped Prussia, 
and obtained the country about Venice at the end 
of the war, so that Austria was now entirely excluded 
from Italy. The French grew extremely jealous of 
Prussia, and in 1870 the Emperor Napoleon picked 
a quarrel with the King of Prussia. In the war 
which followed, all Grermany took part with Prussia. 
The Grermans invaded France, and defeated the 
French armies in several great battles. The Em- 
peror Napoleon was taken prisoner, and France again 
became a Eepublic. Then siege was laid to Paris. 
After bearing much hardship, the great city was 
starved out and surrendered. France had to give 
up some of her provinces. The King of Prussia 
became the German Emperor and the little States 



SECOND PEEIOD. 455 

of Germany united together to form the Grerman 
Empire. The Itahans, too, took possession of Borne, 
and there was now at last a United Italy under one 
king. 

7. The End of the First Gladstone Ministry. — 
In England the Gladstone Ministry liad been very 
'busy, and, as often happens, people got tired of 

seeing so many changes made. Some of the Min- 
isters, too, behaved rudely to those who had business 
with them, and when, in 1874, a new Parliament 
was elected, it had a large Conservative majority. 
Mr. Disraeli became Prime Minister, and remained 
in office for six years. 

8. Mr. Disraeli's Ministry and the Turkish Bis- 
turbances. — After some time there were fresh 
troubles in Turkey. Some of the Christian inhabi- 
tants rose against their oppressors, and in one place 
the Turks massacred men, women, and children. 
The European States sent ambassadors to Constan- 
tinople, to see what could be done, but though 
they gave some good advice to the Sultan, the 
Sultan, as is always the case, refused to take it. 
All the States except Eussia thought there was no 
more to be done. Eussia declared war against the 
Sultan, to make him do what he had been advised to 
do. The war lasted about a year. The Eussians 
had great difficulties, and lost a great number of 
men, but in the end they beat the Turks thoroughly. 
They made a treaty with the Sultan,- by which a 
great part of the provinces of Turkey in Europe 
were taken away from the Sultan and given to the 
people who lived in them. Mr. Disraeli, who had 



456 OUTLINE OF ENGLISH IIISTOEY. 

now become Earl of Beaconsfield, thought that Russia 
would make the people in these provinces obey its 
orders, and would in this way become too powerful. 
He and the English G-overnment insisted that Russia 
should consult the other European States and make 
a new treaty, and he was prepared to go to war if thi 
were not done. This made hi'm very popular iv 
England, though there were many people who did not 
wish to have a war with Russia. At last Russia gav^- 
way, and the different States sent Ambassadors tc^ 
Berlin, where a new treaty was drawn up, by whicli, 
though many of the Christian peoples were set free^ 
some, who had been taken away from under the rule 
of the Sultan by the Russian treaty, were placed! 
under it again. There have been more troubles 
since, and they are not likely to end as long as tho 
Sultan continues to rule, because it does not seem 
possible to teach him to govern well, or to make him 
care to learn. 

9. The End of the Conservative Ministry. — Af> -^ 
this there were wars in other parts of the world. 
There was another invasion of Afghanistan and a 
war in Zulu Land. In 1880 there was again a nf ^ 
Parliament. This time the people thought that the 
Conservative ministry was too fond of war, and the 
new Parliament had a large Liberal majority. M:s. 
Gladstone became Prime Minister a second time. 

10. Conclusion. — So far we have come in the sto?.^ 
of England. What lies beyond we cannot tell; but 
this we can tell, that England has prospered most 
when she has most sought to do that which it was 
her duty to do. Each generation has been better 



SECOND PERIOD. 457 

in something than the one before it, and it is for all 
people to make the generation in whicli they live 
better than the last one for the sake of their children 
who will come after them. We need not be very 
great or very learned to help in this work. Each 
(person, as he or she grows up, can do something. 
Every time we choose the good and avoid the evil, 
we set a good example to others. Thousands of 
small right acts done come to a great deal when 
they are taken together. Much of the grandest 
work ever done by Englishman has blessed their 
American descendents as well as their English ones, 
and as we read what men of old have done for us, 
we can fitly think of their deeds as the poet Brown- 
ing thought when he was sailing off the Spanish 
coast. His mind dwelt on IS^elson and the old 
warriors who had fought and died there for their 
country. Trafalgar was in front and St. Vincent 
behind. Then, as he turned to think of himself, 
the words that rose to his lips were 

Here and here did England help me ; how can I help 

England ? Say 
Whoso turns as I, this evening, turn to God to piaise 

and pray. 



THE ENDo 



INDEX. 



Aberdeen, Earl of, prime minister, 
426; resigns, 433 

" Addled " parliament, the, 203 

Addington succeeds Pitt as prime 
minister, 360; resigns, 365 

Afghanistan invaded by British, 417; 
rising of people, 418; retreat from, 
418; second invasion, 419; third in- 
vasion, 456 

Aghrira, battle of. 284 

Agincom-t, battle of, 107 

Agriculture, improvements in, 343 

Aidan, mission of, 16 

Akbar Khan, commander of the 
Afghans, 418 

"Alabama," the privateer, 448 

Albert of Saxe-Coburg, becomes 
husband of Victoria, 413; plans 
the exhibition of 1851, 425 

Alexander II., Emperor of Russia, 
434 

Alexander III., King of Scotland, 
successor to, 74 

Alfred the Great, chosen king, 20; 
defeats the Danes, 20; extent of 
his kingdom, 22; results of his 
reign, 23 

"All the Talents," ministry of, 368 

Alma, battle of the, 429 

America [see Spanish Colonies, Unit- 
ed States, etc.], discovery of, 140 

— , English settlements in, 176, 316; 
English and French rivalry, 316, 
317; taxation of, 327, 328; rebellion 
of, 331-335; aided by France, 334; 
theii- independence acknowledged, 
336 

Amiens, peace of, 363 



Amusements stopped by Puritans. 
241, 248 

Anderida, site of, 9 

Angevin kings, 55 

Angles, their origin, 7; conquest by,, 
10; and '"angels," 14 

Anjou, 55 

Anne, Queen, succession settled on, 
291, 294; popularity of, 295; reign, 
295-303 

— of Cleves. married to Henry VIII., 
154; divorced, 155 

Anselm, appointed archbishop of 
Canterbury, 42; exiled, 43; is re- 
conciled with Henry I., 44 

Anti-corn-law League, 420 

Antwerp, expedition against, 376 

Arabs, the, at Jerusalem, 56 

Archbishop, choice of a, against 
king's will, 60 

Arcot, defence of, 324 

Arkwright, inventions of, 344 

Arlington, minister of Charles 11, 
254, 256 

Armada the prepai-ation of, 180; de- 
feat of, 184; its destruction, 185 

Army, the feudal, 48; mercenaries 
of Henry VIII., 139; under Crom- 
well, 234; under Charles II., 240 

Arnold, brewer to James II., 275 

Arthur, princes named, 58, T36 

Arundel, Earl of, 100 

Ashlej', minister of Charles II., 254 

Athelstan, 23 

Augustine, St., first archbishop of 
Canterbury, 16 

Austria opposes Russia. 427 

— , duke of. arrests Richai-d 1., 57 



460 



INDEX. 



Babington conspiracy, 180 

Bacon, Francis, 209 

Badajoz, capture of, 381 

Baffin's Bay, discoveiy of, 175 

Balaclava, battle of, 430 

Ball, John, 91 

Balliol, John, crowned King of Scot- 
land, 76; deposed, 76 

Ballot act, 453 

Bannockburn, battle of, 82 

Bantry Bay, French fleet at, 358 

Baptists in Cromwell's army, 234 

" Barebones" parliament, 241 

Barnet, battle of, 123 

Beachy Head, battle of, 284 

Beaconsfield. Lord, 456 

Becket, Thomas, becomes archbish- 
op, 51 ; murder, 52 

Bede, 26 

Benevolences, 123, 134 

Bengal, 325 

Berlin, treaty of, 456 

Bible, translations of the, 147, 196 

Bishops abolished in Scotland, 223 

— , the Seven, 274 

Black Death, the, 41 

Black Hole, the, 324 

Black Prince, his bravery, 87; cru- 
elty, 88; death, 93 

Black Sea, naval war in, 427; Russia 
not to have a fleet in, 434 

Blake, Admiral, 241 

Blanketeers, the, 389 

Blenheim, battle of, 295 

Blockade-runners, 447 

Blood-feud, 12 
Bloody Assizes, 269 

Blucher, 387 

Bole3'n, Anne, married to Heniy 

Vni., 144; beheaded, 149 
Bolingbroke, Lord, 301 
— , Henry of, 100 [see Henry IV.] 
Bombay, 323 

Bonaparte, Napoleon, rise of, 351 ; in 
Egypt, 355; becomes civil ruler, 
361; plan for invading England. 
366; exclusion of British goods. 



Bonaparte — Continued. 
369; in Spain, 373; in Russia, 382? 
fall, 384; exile, 386 

Boston, tea thrown overboard at,, 
330; battle near, 332 

Bosworth, battle of, 129 

Boulogne, camp at, 365 

Bow, use of the, 77 

Boyne, battle of the, 284 

Braddock, General, 317 

Breda, ^-bace of, 254 

Bretigny, peace of, 89 

Bribery, cases of, 306, 396 

Bridgewater canal, 343 

Bi'ight, John, aids Anti-corn-law 
League, 420 

Brindley, James, introduces canals,. 
343 

Britain, Roman conquest of, 5; Eng- 
lish conquest, 7, 9 

Britons,the, effect on, of conquest by 
Romans, 5; — of their withdrawal., 
G; fate of, 11 

" Broad-bottomed " administration^ 
310 

Browning quoted, 457 

Bruce, Robert, claimant to Scotch 
crown, 74 

Bruce, Robert, gi-andson of preced- 
ing, murders his competitor, 79; is 
crowned, 80; defeats English army, 
82 

Brydon, Dr., 419 

Buchan, Countess of, 80 

Buckingham, Duke of, rebellion and 
death, 129 

Buckingham, Duke of, favorite of 
James I., 204; goes to Spain with 
Prince Charles, 210; influence over 
Charles I., 213; is impeached, 215; 
his French expedition, 216; is nmr- 
dered, 217 
Buckingham, Duke of, minister of 

Charles II., 254 
Bulgaria, English army in, 42# 
Bunker Hill, battle of, 331 
IJunj-an, John, 249 



INDEX. 



461 



Burghley, Lord, minister of Eliza- 
beth, 189 
Eurgoyne, surrender of, 333 
-Burgundy, Duke of, murder of. 111 
Burke, Edmund, wisdom of, 338 
Byng, Admiral, 317 
Byron, Lord, death of, 398 

Cabal ministry, 254 
Cabinet, origin of the, 300 
Cabot, voyages of, 174 
•Cabul occupied by British army , 417; 
insurrection at, 418; retreat from, 
419; re-occupied, 419 
Cade, Jack, rebellion of, 115 
•Cadiz, expedition against, under 
Elizabeth, 181, 189; under Charles 
I., 214 
'Calais, siege of, 87; loss of, 164 
•Calcutta, foundation of, 323; seized 

by natives, 325 
California visited by Drake, 174 
■Campbell, Sir Colin, commands in 

India, 441 
Oampbell, Thomas, quoted, 362 
Camperdown, battle of, 355 
Canada, conquest of, 319 
Canals, introduction of, 343 
•Candia offered to England, 427 
Canning, George, his effort against 
Napoleon, 370, 372; withdraws 
from ministry, 377; hishberal for- 
eign policy, 392; favors Catholic 
emancipation, 395 ; becomes prime 
minister, 398; opposes parliamen- 
tary reform. 397; death, 398 
Canning, Lord, governor-general of 
India, 437; his moral courage, 439 
Cannon, introduction of, 130 
Canterbury, first archbishop of, 16 
Cape St. Vincent, battle of, 351 
Cardigan, Lord, 430 
Carisbrook castle, Charles I. impris- 
oned at, 236 
Carr, Robert, 202 
Cartagena, ransom of, 179 
■Castles destroyed, 48 



Catesby, plot of, 199 

Catherine of Arragon, married to 
Henry VIII., 137; divorce of, 142, 144 

Catholic Association, 395 

Catholics, persecution of, under 
Elizabeth, 177; conspiracy of, 
against James I., 199; toleration 
promised, 212; refused under 
Charles II., 255; persecution under 
Charles II., 260; preferred to Puri- 
tans, 263; illegal toleration by 
James II., 271; are represented at 
Oxford, 273; tolerated under Wil- 
liam III., 279; persecution in Ire- 
land, 284; partial emancipation, 
357; further efforts for, 360, 395; 
final success, 400 

Cato Street conspiracy, 392 

" Cavalier" parliament, 247 

Cavaliers, the, 232 

Cawnpore, siege of, 437 

Caxton, 124 

Charles I., plan to marry the Infanta, 
204; visit to Madrid, 210; failure of 
plan, 211; marries Henrietta Ma- 
ria, 212; becomes king. 213; quar- 
rel with Parliament, 214, 215; his 
forced loans, 215; war with Spain, 
214; — with France, 216; assents to 
Petition of Right, 216; quarrels 
with Puritans, 217; — about taxes, 
219; governs without a parlia- 
ment, 219; imprisons parliamen- 
tary leaders, 219; offends Puritans, 
220; legal persecution by, 220; levies 
ship-money, 221; marches again.st 
Scotland, 223; efforts to raise 
money, 224; war with Scotch, 
225; sets up his standard, 231; sur- 
renders to the Scotch, 235; escape, 
236; trial and death, 237 

Charles II., crowned in Scotland, 989; 
defeat and escape, 239; becomes 
king, 244; character, 244; religion, 
246; means of getting money, 253; 
accepts it from French king, 255, 
267; death, 267 



462 



INDEX. 



Charles V., Emperor, and Henry 

VIII., 138, 142 
Charles VI., Emperor, claimant to 

Spanish crown, 293, 298, 302 
Charles V. of France, 92 
Charles VI. of France, 107 
Charles VII. of France, 111 
Charles X. of France, 402 
Charles II. of Spain, 293 
Charles IV. of Spain, 371 
Charles Albert of Sardinia, 444 
Charles Edward, 311-314 
Charters, confirmation of the, 79 
Chartists, the, 410, 423; their peti- 
tion, 424 
Chatham, first Earl of, popular and 
honest, 318; success as war-minis- 
ter, 31 9 16 resignation, 326; speech 
against peace with America, 334; 
death, S34 
— , second Earl, 376 
Chaucer, 98 
Chichester, Sir A., 201 
Chimneys, introduction of, 170 
Chivalry, 88 
Christianit3', introduced, 6, 14; its 

effect, 16 
Chronicle, the English, 26 
Church in England, the [see, also, 
Catholics, Clergy, Popes, Pi-ayer- 
book, Protestants, Puritans, etc.], 
interdict under John, 60; the king 
to be head of, 147; property seized, 
158; uniformity enforced, 119; 
proposed voluntary system, 236; 
church re-established, 248; tolera- 
tion act, 278 
Ciudad Rodrigo, battle of, 381 
Civil war in England, against 
Stephen,45;— Henry II., 54; — Ed- 
ward II., 82; York and Lancas- 
ter, 116; Charles I. and Parlia- 
ment. 231 
Clare election, 399 
Clarence, Duke of. 123, 124 
Clarendon. Earl of, 250, 254 
Clarkson Thomas, 340 



Clergy [see Monks, Popes], reve 
nues taken, 42; their character, 50,- 
not subject to civil courts, 50;" 
property seized, 61; taxation of, 
by Pope, 67; refuse civil taxes, 79' 
civil offices filled by, 92; idleness 
142; permitted to marry, 158; tri- 
als of, 220 

Clifford, minister of Charles II. , 254, 
256 

Clive, Robert, 323-325 

Cnut, 27 

Coal, inaccessibility of, 343 

Coalition ministries, 337, 426 

Cobden, Richard, agitation against 
corn duties, 420, 422 ; negotiates- 
commercial treaty with France, 
446 

Colonies [see America], develop- 
ment of. 315 

Commerce [see Free Trade], early,. 
4 ; development of, 170 ; with. 
Spanish colonies, 308; British com- 
merce injured by Napoleon, 369 

Commercial treaties, 339, 446 

Commons, House of [see Reform],, 
origin, 78; corruption in, 306, 337; 
proceedings made public, 338 

Commonwealth, the, 238 

Communion-table, position of, 220 

Compurgation, 13 

Comyn, murder of, 79 

Connaught, Irish driven to, 238 

Conservatives, the name, 406 

Conspiracy law, 351 

Copenhagen, battle of, 361 

Corn laws, 416, 419 

Cornwallis, Lord, surrender of, 835 •, 
in Ireland, 360 

Cotton famine, 448 

Counties, origin of names of, 10 

Courts of law [see Juries], early, 11;; 
reform in, 49; injustice of, 51, 120 

Covenant, the, 223 

Cranmer, Thomas, divorces Queeir 
Catherine, 144; is burned for here- 
sy, 164 



INDEX. 



468 



Crecy, battle of, 86 

Crime [see Punishment], compensa- 
tion for, 12 

Crimean war, origin, 427;- bad gene- 
ralship and management of Brit- 
ish, 430; sufferings of troops, 431; 
blunders, 432; hospitals, 432 

Criminal-law reform, 388, 393 

Cromlechs, 4 

Crompton, his invention, 345 

Cromwell, Oliver, rise of, 234 ; de- 
feats the Scotch, 237 ; subdues 
Ireland, 238 ; and Scotland, 239 ; 
church and foreign policy, 241; 
unpopularity, 241 ; refuses title of 
king, 242; death, 242 

Cromwell, Richard, 243 

Cromwell, Thomas, power and 
cruelty of, 152; his fall, 154 

Cross, sign of the, 196 

Crown, the, not hereditary, 11, 58; 
increase of power, 122 ; regular 
succession set aside to insure 
order, 128 ; act of settlement, 294 

Cruelty [see Persecution], of Will- 
iam I., 39 ; of nobles, 46; of John, 
59; of Henry Vin., 151 ; of Star 
Chamber, 220; in Ireland, 229, 358; 
of Jeffreys, 270; of English troops, 
314 

Crusades, the, 55 

Culloden, 313 

Cumberland, Duke of, 313 

Danby, Earl of, 258 

Danes, invasion by the, 19; defeated 

by Alfred, 20 ; retain their laws, 

26 
Danubian principalities, 427 
Dare, Joan, 112-114 
Darnley, Lord, 168 
Davy, Sir Humphry, 175 
Davis, John, 175 

Declarations of Indulgence, 256, 272 
Delhi, recovery of, 440 
Denmark, fleet seized, 370 
Derby, Earl of, ministries of, 426, 442 



Disco verj% voyages of, 174 

Dispensing power, 271 

Disraeli, Benjamin, a leader of the 

Protectionists, 426 ; and of the 

Conservatives, 442; prime minister, 

455 
Dissenters [see Lollards, Puritans, 

etc.], 248; their unpopularity, 295; 

ofQce-holding by, 296 ; persecution 

of, 301, 303; relief of, 304, 398 
Distress in 1819-20, 387 
Domesday Book, 40 
Dost Mohammed, 4l7, 419 
Dover, treaty of, 255 
Drake, Sir Francis, voyages of, 172, 

173; in West Indies, 179; in Spain, 

181; and the Armada, 183, 185: 

death, 187 
Drogheda, 238 
Duncan, Admiral, 354 
Dundee, Lord, 280 
Dunkirk acquix'ed, 241 
Dunstan, 24 
Dupleix, 323 
Dutch [see Netherlands], wars with, 

240, 251, 253, 256; peace, 254; treaty, 

255 
Dutch Guards, 292 
Duties, see Impositions, Tonnage 

East Anglia, 10 

East India Company, 322 

Eastern Question, 414, 455 

Edgar, 24 

Edgehill, battle of, 232 

Edinburgh, riot at, 223; occupied by 
Charles Edward, 311 

Edmund, 28 

Edred, 23 

Education, early, 26; reform in, 145; 
national aid to, 412, 453 

Edward the Confessor, becomes 
king, 29; favors the Normans, 32; 
death, 32 

EdwaTdl., wisdom of, 71; conquest 
of Wales, 72; interference in Scot- 
land, 74, 78, 80; summons parlia- 



464 



INDEX. 



Edward I.— Continued. 
merits, 73, 78; church poHcy, 79; 
death, 80 

Edward II., weakness of, 80: quarrels 
with nobles, 8:2 ; defeated by 
Scotch, 82; dethroned and mui'- 
dered, 83 

Edward III., claim on French 
throne, 85 ; his victories, 86, 87; 
death, 92 

Edward IT., claim of, 117; popular- 
ity, 121; deposition, 122; restored, 
123; his forced loans, 122; death,124 

Edward V., 125; murder of, 128 

Edward VI., 156; death, 160 

Egbert, 18 

Egypt offered to England, 427 

Elfheah, 27 

Eliot, Sir John, 218 

Elizabeth, Queen, imprisoned, 163 
accession, 165; church policy, 166 
interference in Scotland, 167 
rebellion against, 169; prosperity 
under, 169; helps the Dutch, 178; 
conspiracy against, 180; financial 
system, 191; death, 192 

Elizabeth, Princess, 199 ; becomes 
Princess Palatine, 307 

Elphinstone, General, 418 

England [see Britain], its division, 
10, 20; union, 18, 24; projected in- 
vasion of, 364, 366 

English, the [see Angles, etc.], their 
government, 11; religion, 12; con- 
version, 14; inferiority to Nor- 
mans, 31 

Essex, Earl of, 189. 190 

Ethelred, 26 

Evesham, battle of, 70 

Excise bill, 307 

Exclusion bill, 261 

Exhibition of 1851, 424 

Fairfax, Lord, 235, 237 
Falkirk, battle of, 313 
Falkland, Lord, 333 
Fawkes, Guy, 200 



Felton, J., 217 

Fenians, 451 

Feudal system, 30; under William 
I., 38 

Fitzgerald, "Flogging," 360 

Fitzwilliam, Lord, 357 

Five Members, arrest of the, 230 

Flanders, importance of,to England, 
84 

Flax culture in Ireland, 224 

Flogging, domestic, 145; in navy, 35S 

Foreign policy, liberal, 393 

Forest, Friar, 151 

Fotheringay, Mary Stuart at, 185 

Fox, Charles James, leader of the 
Whigs, 336; hatred of George III. 
for, 365; final success and death, 
368 

France, dominions of English kings 
in, 55, 89; loss of, 92; renewal of 
struggle for, 107; war with, 294; 
sti'uggle in America, 317; aid of, to 
American colonies, 334; revolution 
in, 347; war in consequence of, 
349; Syrian difficulty, 415; com- 
mercial treaties with, 339, 446; Ital- 
ian war, 414; German war, 454 

Francis I., 138 

Frederick, Prince Palatine, 207 

Frederick II., 320 

Free trade, 394; advantages of, 339 
416 

French revolution, 347; effect in 
England, 350 

Frobisher, Martin, 175 

Garibaldi, 445 

Gascoigne, 106 

Gascony, 84 

Gaveston, Piers, 81 

George I., reign of, 303-307 

George II., reign of, 307-326 

George III., his struggle against par- 
liamentary dictation, 327, 337; in- 
sanity of, 341, 379; popularity, 342; 
prevents Catholic emanoipation, 
357, 369; death, 391 



INDEX. 



465 



George IV., character, 342, 379; 
reign, 379-400 

Gibraltar, capture of, 279; defence 
of, 337 

Gladstone, Mr., improves taxation, 
446; disestablishes Irish Church, 
452; fall, 455 

Glasgow, church parliament at, 223 

Glass, use of, 170 

Glencoe, massacre of, 280 

Glendower, Owen, 104 

Gloucester, Dukes of, 100, 126 

Goderich, Lord, ministry of, 398 

'Godfrey, Sir E. B., 260 

■Godfrey of Bouillon, 56 

•Godwin, Earl, 32 

Gold, search for, 175, 205 

"Good Pennyworths," 153 

Goods, English, excluded from Con- 
tinent, 369 

" Grand Remonstrance," the, 229 

"Great Commoner," the, 318 

■Great Mogul, the, 436 

Greece, independence of, 398 

Greenwich Hospital, 288 

■Grenville, Lord, 366 

Grenville, George, 327 

Grenville, Sir Richard, 187 

Grey, Lady Jane, 160, 161 

Guerillas, 380 

Gunpowder Plot, 198 

Halifax, Lord, 261 

Hampden, John, 222; death, 233 

Hampton Court, conference of, 196; 

Charles I. at, 235 
Harfleur, 107 
Hargraves, 344 
Harley, 301 
Harold, 33 

Hastings, [see Senla,c], Lord, 126 
Havelock, 440 
Hawke, Admiral, 321 
Hengist and Horsa, 8 
Henrietta Maria, 212, 255 
Henry I., reign, 43, 44 
Henry II., reforms of, 48; temper, 

52; foreign dominions, 54 



Henry III., 64-70; bad character, 66; 

favoritism, 67; subservience to the 

popes, 67 
Henry IV., Bolingbroke, 101-105; his 

claims, 101; rules by a parliament- 
ary title, 103 
Henry V., 105, 106; war with France, 

106 
Henry VI., 111-117; crowned king of 

France, 111; bad government, 115; 

deposed, 117; restored, 122; death, 

123 
Henry VII., 130-136; shrewdness an 

thrift, 130, 131, 134; protects th 

people, 135; increases royal power, 

136 
Henry VIII., 136-156; his wars on 

the Continent, 138; quarrels with 

the Pope, 142; his divorce, 144; his 

tyranny not unpopular, 145, 15J 

church policy, 153 
Henry VI., the Emperor, 57 
Herbert, Sidney, 432 
Heretics [see Lollards], 103 
High Commission court, 220 
Highlanders, insurrection of, 281, 

311 
Hill, Sir Rowland, 411 
Holmby House, Charles I. at, 235 
Hotspur, Sir Harry, 105 
Howard, Catherine, 156 
Howard of Effingham, Lord, 182, 189 
Howe, Lord, 353 
Hudson's Bay, 175 
Hundred Years' war, 83 
Huskisson, reforms of, 394 
Hyde Park, meeting at, 450 

Images, destruction of. 150, 157 

Impositions, 202 

Inclosures, 139, 159 . 

Independents, 233 

India, routes to, 175; conquest of 

322; mutiny, 435-441 
Inkermann, battle of, 430 
Innocent HI., 60 
Interdict laid on England, 60 
lona, missionaries of, 16 



466 



INDEX. 



Ireland, conquest of, 54, 190; trou- 
bles in, 201, 356, 451 ; rebellions, 228, 
238, 282, 358; cruelty in suppres- 
sion of, 358; government, 284; Pro- 
testant ascendency, 284, 356; par- 
liamentary independence, 357; its 
rejection of liberal propositions, 
357; the union, 360; famine, 421; 
church disestablished, 452; land 
act, 453 

Italy, Bonaparte in- 364; war in, 
443 

Jacobites, the, 290; risings of, 304, 

310 
James I., his ancestry, 195; trouble 
with Puritans, 196; — with the 
Commons, 198, 202, 208 ; — with the 
Catholics, 199; favoritism, 203; ef- 
forts to get money, 202, 204; war 
in the Palatinate, 207, 210, 212; 
death, 213 

James II., becomes a Catholic, 258; 
proposed exclusion of, 261; acces- 
sion, 267; violation of law, 271; ef- 
forts in behalf of Catholics, 272, 
273; quarrel with the bishops, 274; 
deposition, 277; in Ireland, 283; 
death, 294 

Jeffreys, 269 

Jellahabad, 419 

Jerusalem, kingdom of, 57 

John, King, rebels, 55; becomes 
king, 58; tyranny, 59; excommuni- 
cated, 61; yields to people, 62 

John, King of France, 87 

John of Gaunt, 92, 95 

Jury, origin of, 49; dishonesty, 120 

Jutes, 7 

Kent, kingdom of, 10; risings in, 95, 

115 
Ket, rebellion of, 158 
Keymis, Captain, 206 
Killiecrankie, 280 
Kings, the, see Crown 
Knights, 30 



Laborers [see Peasants] , miserable 
condition of, 410; improvement in, 
420 
Laborers, Statute of, 91 
La Hogue, battle of, 287 
Lancaster, House of, 101 
Lands, division among Normans, 37; 

taxation, 40 
Langton, Stephen, 60 
La Rochelle, relief of, 216 
Latimer, supports Henry VIII. 's 
church policy, 151; preaches 
against the nobles, 160, burned, 164 
Laud, William, his church policy, 

219 
Lauderdale, minister of Charles II., 

219 
Lawlessness, mediseval, 118 
Lawrence, Sir Henry, 440 
Lawrence, Sir John, 437 
Laws [see Criminal law. Punish- 
ment], early, 13; of Alfred, 23 
Learning, revival of, 138 
Leicester, Earl of, 178 
Leipzig, battle of, 384 
Lewes, battle of, 69 
Lewis, Prince, 64 

Lewis XIV., influence over Charles 
IL, 255, 259; opposed by William 
III., 287, 289, 294; recognizes: 
" James IIL," 294 ' 

Lewis XVI., 347,348 
Lewis XVIII., 384 
Liberals, party name, 406 
Limerick, capture of, 284 
Limoges, siege of, 88 
Lincoln, Abraham, 447 
Liveries, 118, 133 
Lollards, 98, 103 

London, fire of, 251; charter for- 
feited, 265 
London, Tower of, 38, 127 
Londonderry, siege of, 282 
Long Parliament, 226; corruption 

of, 239; disruption of, 240 
Lords, House of, origin, 78; under 
Cromwell, 242 



INDEX. 



467 



Lucknow, relief of, 288 
Lundy, governor of Londonderry, 
283 

McDonald, Flora, 314 

Mclan, 281 

McNaugliton, Sir William, 417 

Madras, 323 

Magdalen, Fellows of, 273 

Magellen, Straits of, 172 

Magenta, battle of, 444 

Magna Carta, 62 

Mahometans, 56 

Maid of Norway, 74 

Malplaquet, battle of, 299 

Malta, 355, 364 

Mamelukes, 355 

Manchester massacre, 390 

Mansfield, 212 

Marlborough, Duke of, 296, 299, 300 

Marlborough, Duchess of, 296, 301 

Marston IMoor, battle of, 233 

Martyrs, Catholic, 145, 151; Protes- 
tant, 163 

Mary I., restores Catholicism, 161 ; 
marries Philip II., 162; death, 164 

Mary II., married to Prince of Or- 
ange, 259; crown settled on, 278; 
death, 287 

Mary Stuart, married to French 
prince, 157 ; rivalry with Elizabeth, 
167; her claims, 168; plots in favor 
of, 169, 177; death, 180 

Mars, last celebration of, 169 

Massena, Marshal, 379 

Matilda, 45 

Medway, Dutch fleet in the, 254 

Meerut, 436 

Mehemet Ali, 415 

Melbourne, Lord, 407, 409 

Menteith, 78 

Mercia, 22 

" Merry Monarch," 244 

Middle Class, oppression of, 119 

Militia, 230 

Milton, 249 

Mines, 3, 6 



Minorca, loss of, 317 
Missionaries, 16, 176 
Monasteries, suppression of, 148^ 

158 
Monk, George, 243 
Monks, origin of the, 17; character, 

26 
Monmouth, Duke of, 262, 268 
Monopolies, granted to favorites,. 

191, 208 
Montcalm, 320 
Montfort, Simon de, 68, 70 
Moore, Sir John, 374 
More, Sir Thomas, 140, 145 
Mountjoy, Lord, 190 
Murder, punishment for, 12 

Names of places, Roman, 5 ; Danish;; 
20 

Namur, siege of, 289 

Nana Sahib, 439 

Naples, kingdom of, 445 

Napoleon III , 425; attempt to kill» 
442; distrust of, 444 

Naseby, battle of, 235 

Navy, started by Alfred, 22; revived 
by Charles I., 221; mutinies in, 
353, 354 

Nelson, Lord, 352, 361, 367 

Netherlands [see Dutch, Flanders], 
struggle in, 171, 178 

Newburn, battle of, 225 

Newcastle, Duke of, 310, 317 

New England, settlement of, 316 

New Forest, devastation of, 39 

"New Model," the, 235 

New York, occupation of, 333 

Nicholas, the Emperor, 426 

Nightingale, Florence, 432 

Nile, battle of the, 356 

Nobles, oppression by, 46, 160; cease 
to give military service, 48; gov- 
ernment by, 68; retainers, 119; sub- 
jection to crown, 131, 133 

Nore, mutiny at the, 354 

Norfolk, Duke of, 100, 169 

Norfolk, insurrection in, 158 



468 



INDEX. 



l^ormandy separated from England, 

41; reunited, 44; becomes French, 

58 
l^ormans, the, 29; In England, 32; 

conquest by, 33; estates, 37; union 

with English, 49 
North of England, politics, 346, 389 
North, Lord, 330 
Northmen, 19 

Northumberland, Earl of, 130 
^, Duke of, 159 
— , Kingdom of, 10 
Norwegians, invasion by, 33 
Nottingham, 231 

Gates, Titus, 260 

Occasional Conformity, 295, 303 

O'Connell, Daniel, 394, 399 

O'Connor, Feargus, 423 

Offices, votes gained by distribution 

of, 327 
Ohio River, 316 
Orange, Prince of, 178 
Orange, Prince of, 259; invitation to, 

276 [see William III.] 
Ordeal, 13 

Orinoco, expedition to, 205 
■Orleans, relief of, 112 
Oudenarde, battle of, 299 
Oudh, 437 

Outram, Sir James, 440 
Oxford, provisions of, 68 

Palatinate, war in the, 207, 209 

Falmerston, Lord, foreign policy, 
414; prime minister, 433-442; sec- 
ond ministry, 443^449 

Pandulph, 61 

Parker, Hyde, 361 

Parliament [see Commons, Lords], 
beginning of, 68, 69; division into 
two houses, 78; Scotch representa- 
tives, 78; indifference to popular 
welfare, 122 

Parma, Duke of, 181, 184 

Parr, Catherine, 156 



Paston family, 119, 145 

Peasants, oppression of the, 31, 91 ^ 
rebellions, 95, 115 

Peel, Sir Robert, reforms criminal 
law, 393; home secretary, 393, 398; 
against Catholic emancipation, 
395; prime minister, 407; favors 
free trade, 416; defeated by Pro- 
tectionists, 422; death, 425 

Pelham, Henry, 310, 315 

Pembroke, Earl of, 65 

Peninsular war, origin, 371 ; difficul- 
ties of British, 374,375; causes of 
French failure, 377 

Pepper seizure, 225 

Perceval, Mr., 369, 377, 388 

Percy family, 104 

Persecution [see.Oatholics, Martyrs, 
etc.], 104; under Henry VHI., Hi, 
151; under Mary, 163; suspended 
under Charles II., 256 

Peter the Hermit, 56 

Petition and Advice, 242 

Petition of Right, 216 

Pevensey, 9 

Philip II. of France, 61 

Philip VI. of France, 87 

Philip II. of Spain, marries Mary, 
' 162; persecution of Protestants, 
171 

Picts, the, 6 

"Pilgrimage of Grace," 150 

Pillory, the, 220 

Pitt, William, see Chatham, Earl of 

Pitt, William, the youngest pi ime 
minister, 337; success, 338; adop- 
tion of new ideas, 339; opposes 
slave-trade, 341 ; efforts in behalf 
of Ireland, 357; and of the Catho- 
lics, 360;' second ministry, S65; 
death, 368 

Plague, the, 251 

Plassey, battle of, 325 

Poitiers, battle of, 87 

Police, reform of the, 400 

Pollock, General, 419 

Poor law, 181, 406 . 



INDEX. 



4m 



Pope, the, 14; victorious over king, 
61; taxes for, 67, 97; authority 
questioned, 97; — no longer ac- 
knowledged, 144, 165; — restox'ed, 
1U3 

Popish plot, 260 

Portugal, defence of, 378, 393 

Post-office reform, 411 

Potatoes, 421 

Prayer book, the, 157, 159, 161, 167, 
230; in Scotland. 223 

Presbyterians, 233; driven from 
army and parliament, 235 

Press, liberty of the, 288 

Preston, 237 

Preston Pans, 311 

Pretenders, the first, 132; the later, 
303, 310 

Prime minister, tlie first, 306 

Princes, murder of the, 128 

Printing-press imported, 124 

Protection, 426 

Protestants, 158; burned, 145, 154 

Prussia, rising of, against French, 383 

Punishment [see Cruelty], king's 
power of, abolished, 63; under 
Henry VIII., 139 

Punjab, 437 

Puritans, the, 166; their demands, 
196, 217, 228: division of, 233; per- 
secution of, 248; called dissenters, 
249; settlements in America, 316 

Pym, John, 228. 233 

Pyramids, battle of the, 355 

Quebec, capture of, 331 

Raglan, Lord, 429 

Railways, introduction of, 401 

Raleigh, Sir Walter, 189, 205 

Ramilies, battle of, 296 

Reform of House of Commons [see 
Chartists], Pitt's plan defeated, 
339; artisans' demand for, 389; 
rotten boroughs, 395; postponed 
by French revolution, 396; agita- 
tion for, 405; accomplished, 406; 
further reform proposed, 442 



Reformatso", the, 141, 144 

Regency, tde, 379 

Regicides, tne, 246 

Reginald, 59 

Richard I., his crusade, 56; arres^ 

of, 57; death, 58 
Richard II., and the peasants, 96; 

tyranny, 100; murder, 101 
Richard III., murders by, 123, 125, 

128; death, 130 
Ring, wedding, 196 
Riots, 389 

Rising in the North, 169 
Roads, improvement in, 400 
Rockingham, Lord, ministry of, 327, 

335 
Rodney, Admiral, 336 
Romans in Britain, 5 
Rome. 445 

Romilly. Sir Samuel, 388 
Rooke, Sir George, 297 
Roses, wars of the, 116 
Rouen, siege of. 110 
Roundheads, 232 
Ruins of Britons, 4 
Runnimede, 62 
Russell, Lord, 266 
Russell, Earl [Lord John], efforts 

for parliamentary reform, 397, 

398, 404; prime minister, 422, 449 
Russia, early trade with, 175; French 

in, 382; war with, 427 
Rye House plot, 265 
Ryswick. peace of, 292 

Sacheverhll, Dr., 300 

St. Arnaud, 429 

St. Domingo. 179 

St. Helena, 387 

St. John, 301 

St. Paul's cathedral, 2.53, 292 

St. Sebastian, battle of, 384 

Saladin, 57 

Salamanca, battle of, 382 

Salaries and gifts, 209 

Bancroft, Archbishop, 267 

Savoy, 445 



470 



INDEX. 



Saxoi'S, the, 7 

Schism act, b03 

Schooijnasters, importation of, 26 

Scone, stone of, 76 

Scotland, acknowledges English su- 
premacy, 74 ; conquest of, 76 ; Wal- 
lace's rebellion, 77; united with 
England, 78 ; independence se- 
cured, 82; war with, 156, 223, 225; 
reformation in. 167; the union, 298 

Soots, the, attacK Britain from Ire- 
land, 6 

Scutari, 432 

Sebastopol, 429 

•Self-denying ordinance, 234 

Senlac, battle at. 34 

Sepoys, 323. 324, 437 

Serfs, 31, 89 

Seven Bishops, the. 274 

Seven Years' war, 317 

Seymour, Jane, 149 

Shaftesbury, Earl of. 257, 261, 265 

Shakespere quoted, 193 

Sheep-farming, evils of, 158 

Shelburne, Lord, 336 

Ship money, 221 

Shrewsbury, battle of, 105 

Sidney, Algernon, 266 

Sidney. Sir Philip, 187 

Sidonia, Duke of, 185 

•Sikhs, 437 

Silver, clipped, 291 

Silver seized by Drake, 174 

Simnel, Lambert, 132 

Six Articles, 153 

slave-trade, early, .d', agitation 
against, 340; abolition cf, 368 

Slavery, abolished, 406 

Sluys, battle of, 86 

Smith, Adam, 339 

Smuggling, effort to stop, 307; by 
British vessels, 308 

Somerset, Earl of. 203 
Somerset, Duke of, 156-158 

Somei'set House, 158 

Sophia, Electress. 294 

South Sea bubble, 305 



Spain, hostility to, 171, 205; war with, 
187, 293, 297, 308 [see Peninsular 
war] 

Spanish colonies, booty from, 172, 187 

Spanish marriage, proposed, 210 

Spanish partition, 293, 299 

Spiders, 82, 275 

Spinning-machines. 344 

Spithead, mutiny at, ZVi 

Stair, Master of, 281 

Stamp act, 327 

Stanley, Lord, 129 

Star Chamber, 134, 220 

Steam-engine, invention, 345; results 
of its use, 150 

Stephen, 45 

Stonehenge, 4 

Strafford, Earl of, 224, 227 

Strahan, Sir Richard, 376 

Suffolk, Duke of, 115 

Surajah Dowlah, 325 

Surplices, objection to, 196 

Sussex, kingdom of, 10, 22 

Swegen, King, 27 

Syria, troubles in, 415 

Talavera, battle of, 375 

Taxation, of land, 40; must be ap- 
proved by people, 63; arbitrary, 
123, 216, 242 

Tea, duties on, 328; destruction of, 
329 

Teign mouth, landing at, 285 

Terror, Reign of, 350 

Test-act, 257; suspension of, 271; re- 
peal, 398 

Tewkesbury, battle of, 123 

Thames, blockade of the, 254 

Thieves, punishment of, 139 

Thirty Years' war, 207 

Throckmorton's plot, 177 

Tilsit, pence of. 369 

Todleben, General, 430 

Toleration act, 278 

Tonnage. 218 

Tories, the name, 262; success of, 
263, 301 ; principles, 339 



INDEX. 



471 



Torres Vedras, battle of, 378 

Torrington, Lord, 285 

Torture, 46 

Towns, built by Romans, 5; destroy- 
ed by English, 9; governments re- 
formed, 401 

Towton, battle of, 117 

Trafalgar, 367 

Travellers, seizure of, 364 

Treason, trials for, 266 

" Trimmers," 264 

Triple Alliance, 255 

Turkey, proposed robbery of, 427; 
bad government of, 456 

Turks, the, in Jerusalem, 56 

Tyler, Wat, 95 

Tyrone, Earl of, 201 

Tyrrell, Walter, 43 

Ulster, colonization of, 201 ; Pi-otes- 

tants in, 399 
United Irishmen, 358 
United States, civil war in, 446 
Universities and James II., 273 
Utrecht, peace of, 302 

Vbnetia, 444 

Victor Emanuel, 444 

Victoria, Queen, 408; marriage of, 

413 
Vinegar Hill, 358 
Virginia, 176 
Vittoria, battle of, 383 
Volunteers, 365, 446 
Voyages around the world, 174 

Wages, laws regulating, 91 
Walcheren, 376 

Wales, independence of, 11; con- 
quest, 72 
Wales, first Prince of, 72 



Wallace, William, 77, 78 

Walpole, Sir Robert, prime minister, 

306; fall, 309 
Walworth, Mayor, 96 
War, changes in art of, 132 
Warbeck, Perkin, 132 
Warwick, Earl of, 118, 122 
Washington, George, 333 
Waterloo. 386 
Wedmore, treaty of, 20 
Wellington, Duke of, campaigns in 

the Peninsula, 373; — in France, 

385, 387; prime minister, 398, 404 
Wessex, 22 

West Indies, trade with, 171, 308 
Westminster Abbey, 32, 67 
Wheeler, Sir Hugh, 438 
Wexford, 238 
Whigs, the name, 262; unpopularity 

of, 263, 300, 327; success, 303 
Wilberforce, William, 340 
Wilkes, John, 328 
William I. [the Conqueror], his 

claims, 33; title, 36; cruelty, 39; 

management of nobles, 38 
William 11. [Rufus], 41-43 
William III. [see Prince of Orange], 

reign, 278-295; plot to kill, 290 
William IV., 402-408 
Wolfe, General, 319 
Wolsey, Cardinal, 138, 143 
Women, services of, 432 
Worcester, battle of, 239 
Wren, Sir Christopher, 292 
Wyclif, John, 96 

York, Duke of, 116 
York, House of, 117 
Yoi'kshire, devastation of, E9 
Yorktown, 335 



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